Mother of 2 U.S. citizen teenagers became one of Trump’s first deportations

ThinkProgress

The U.S. government has deported Guadalupe García de Rayos, 35, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who has lived in Arizona for 21 years, the advocacy group Puente Arizona confirmed Thursday.

Rayos, who had been in the country since she was 14, was caught in an immigration raid in 2008 and arrested on charges of using a fake Social Security number. She was detained for six months by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and released. Since then, she has had to check in every six months under an order of supervision as part of her release.

Wednesday’s check-in meeting was different, however. Her lawyer Ray Ybarra Maldonado recounted on a press call Thursday that they had waited for a long time to speak with a supervisor to see whether she could continue her order of supervision. Instead, Rayos was taken into custody and ordered deported, a decision that the ICE agency explained resulted from a removal order she received in May 2013.

“Relevant databases indicate Ms. Garcia de Rayos has a prior felony conviction dating from March 2009 for criminal impersonation,” according to a statement from ICE.

Late Wednesday night into Thursday morning, Rayos’ family and other advocates took to the ICE agency in Phoenix to protest her detention, including one man who “tied himself to one of the front wheels” of a van that they suspected carried Rayos. Seven people were arrested. Politicians including Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) also supported Rayos before she was deported. [MORE]