Perhaps you have read about the Michigan man deported to Mexico after living in the U.S. for nearly 30 years. The man came to the U.S. as a 10-year-old, has been married for 15 years to his American citizen wife, and has a 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. He has no criminal record (not even a traffic ticket), has a job and pays taxes.
Since their marriage, the couple worked on obtaining his citizenship. Despite several stumbling blocks, the man was granted several stays; that is until last November, when abruptly he was scheduled to be deported. Apparently, he was only one year too old to qualify for the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and ICE refused to grant him a stay until a new DACA ruling that might allow him to stay. He was forced to say goodbye to his family on January 15, 2018, MLK Day.
A 10-year-old cannot form the intent to commit a crime. This 10-year-old did not know that crossing the border with adult family members was, technically, a crime. The family is a tragic example of a broken immigration system, being made worse under the Trump Administration. Senate Democrats and some Republicans would see the government shut down over this issue (along with several others left out of the stop-gap funding bill put forth by House Conservatives.
So, should a hardworking, law-abiding, tax-paying family man who has lived in this country for nearly 30 years, married to an American citizen and father to two American children, be deported to a now unfamiliar country?
Is this justice? What do you think? I’d like to hear from you.