Morena Lemos told news channel WUSA 9 that her 30-year-old daughter and her daughter’s family is fighting deportation back to El Salvador right now. “It’s just unimaginable, she would go back to a country where people already said they want her dead,” said Lemos.
In response to media coverage of immigration raid protests, an ICE spokesman said, “As part of the civil immigration enforcement priorities announced by Secretary Johnson in November 2014, ICE focuses on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. These include individuals, whether alone or with family members, who have been apprehended while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States, recent border crossers, and individuals who have received a final order of removal on or after January 1, 2014.”
While we understand and agree with the deportation of people who truly pose a threat to national security and the safety of our citizens, large-scale raids and mass deportations aren’t the way to achieve this goal. Mass deportations such as the one planned for January are problematic because they lead to deportations of immigrants who desperately need our protection and who have not been given adequate opportunity to prove their legal right to asylum or refuge in this country. Such deportations send some immigrants back into dangerous situations where they are doomed to suffer abuse, violence or even death. These immigrants are not trying to harm us; they are trying to keep their families and themselves from being harmed.
It is imperative that the President grant and other leaders fight for temporary protected status for those people who have fled violence in their home nations. Aren’t we a nation that cares about the sanctity of life? Would any of us sit there and do nothing if even one of these people were abused or murdered in front of our faces? We need to imagine how we would feel and what we would do if such terrible things were to happen in our presence. Then, we need to act based on what we know to be right.
Please join us in speaking out against policies that threaten those who have come to us for safety. To contact the President, go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact. To contact the U.S. Senators from your state, please go to www.senate.gov/. To contact the U.S. Congressman representing your district, search by using your zip code in the upper right corner of this page: www.house.gov/.
Thank you for sharing this information with your friends and family, and thank you for standing up for people who need our help. Happy New Year, and may we always have hope.
If you or someone you know needs the help of an immigration lawyer, please contact our highly experienced team to schedule a consultation today.