Politics
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement handout via Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, photo released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows foreign nationals being arrested this week during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles.
For the first time under President Donald Trump, federal agents deported an undocumented immigrant who was brought to the US as a child, USA Today reported.
The deportation of 23-year-old Juan Manuel Montes appears to contradict Trump's promise not to target so-called "DREAMers," those protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy.
Trump previously said he wouldn't roll back the DACA policy, created by his predecessor Barack Obama, and told ABC News that DREAMers "shouldn't be very worried" about deportation.
But USA Today discovered through an examination of Trump's immigration policies that Montes, who is legally protected by DACA through 2018, had been deported to his native Mexico on February 17, while waiting for a ride in Calexico, California.
Officers with US Customs and Border Protection reportedly questioned Montes, and within three hours, deported him by walking him to the Mexican border and and leaving him in the town of Mexicali. Montes was not carrying his ID, which would have proved his DACA status, and agents refused to let Montes retrieve it, according to the report.
Montes was brought to the US at age 9, and his DACA status had prevented him from being deported twice in the past, USA Today reported. He is now staying with an aunt and uncle in Western Mexico while lawyers file a lawsuit to uncover the details of the deportation.
Immigration advocates have criticized Trump's deportation plans, and have expressed fears that memos released by the Department of Homeland Security could provide a blueprint for mass deportations.