Phoenix woman says friend with legal status is being held by ICE in Eloy
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Protestors rallied outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office in Phoenix on Thursday, focusing on legal residents and citizens getting swept up and detained.
The case of a man from Maryland has sparked international controversy after he was deported to a prison in El Salvador, apparently due to a mistake. President Trump campaigned on a promise of mass deportations and cracking down on border enforcement.
“Very, very hard, very stressful, traumatized,” said Sonia Almaraz, who was driving when she said her friend, a legal permanent resident, was detained and has been in ICE custody ever since. “It’s just hard to explain.”
She was stopped by ICE agents two months ago as she was driving her best friend, Arbella Rodriguez Marquez, and a coworker to work.
“Unfortunately, when they detained her, they misclassified her, classifying her as an arriving alien instead of a permanent alien. And she came into the United States legally,” Almaraz explained.
Almaraz claims Marquez is a legal resident with no criminal record. Arizona’s Family found no evidence of a record either. “She’s got no record at all. She doesn’t even have a traffic ticket,” she stated.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said ICE agents are focusing on deporting criminals, but it has created controversy by sending hundreds of people to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador for allegedly lacking legal status or having gang affiliations.
“We’re doing a fantastic job getting criminals out of this country who Biden allowed into this country. Hundreds of thousands of criminals, murderers and drug dealers,” said President Donald Trump during a press conference Thursday.
Critics, however, say many of these people were deported with limited or no due process.
“With this administration that we have, anything can happen. I was detained with her and I am an American citizen. I was born in the United States, so no one is exempt from being detained by the Immigration Department,” Almaraz said.
It’s a similar message immigration attorney Darius Amiri shares with his clients, calling it unprecedented.
“This is the first time in my career where I’ve had U.S. citizens approach me and say, ‘hey, are we okay?’ You know, ‘hey, my dad is a naturalized U.S. citizen, but he was born in Iraq. Are we okay?’ Or ‘I look brown, am I gonna be stopped at at the border’ or in the airport coming back from my trip abroad?” he said.
For the past week, asylum seekers who signed up through the CBP One app have been receiving messages that say they need to leave the country. Amiri says it’s happening to some of his clients here in the Valley.
“There’s not an easy answer, you know, I mean, anything that comes from the government that says your status has been revoked and you should leave the country. It’s not something to be taken lightly,” he said.
Attorneys can’t ever advise clients or prospective clients to break the law, but Amiri said he can share the risks and ultimately leave the decision up to them.
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