Back during the first Trump term when we witnessed the child separation policy ripping families apart, I thought we had reached the height of cruelty. But I was wrong. ICE and Border Patrol are trying for a new standard. And there are so many awful stories to learn about. Somehow the idea of deporting the “worst of the worst” got lost and inexplicably the new mission is persecuting the most innocent.
ICE has been arresting foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizens who are complying with the law and trying to obtain permanent residency. The New York Times just did a feature story about this. In many cases, ICE agents are telling detained spouses at green card interviews that they had overstayed tourist or business visas. Foreign-born spouses are being handcuffed and taken away right from the interview.
The government strategy appears to be to induce couples to give up, abandon their case and accept the foreign spouse’s detention. There has been no consideration for either the fact of marriage or the reality that the couple may have small children.
The Times highlighted the case of Stephen Paul who is married to a British wife. Paul works for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and he and his wife have a four-month-old baby. At her green card interview, federal agents swooped in and took Paul’s wife away. She had been living in the U.S. for 14 months.
Paul said, “It’s insane to have them rip our family apart. Whoever is directing this has completely lost touch with their mission to the country.”
People like Paul’s wife have always been eligible for green cards in the past. Arrests like this were exceedingly rare as foreign spouses of Americans have typically been approved for permanent residency. The Trump regime is prioritizing fast track deportations regardless of circumstance, no matter how compelling the case or cruel the result.
Paul learned that the government was threatening to deport his wife without a hearing. More generally, this has become their go-to play. Paul’s lawyer had to file a lawsuit in federal court to halt her removal. That worked and secured her release.
Then there is the case of the interfaith chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Ayman Soliman. Soliman is Egyptian and has been in the U.S. since 2014. He had been in trouble with the Egyptian military regime as he had been working as a journalist. Because of his work, he was detained four times by the Egyptian authorities and he had been tortured. He came to the U.S. on a visa to study film and once here he applied for asylum. In June 2018, he was granted asylum.
In July, ICE took Soliman into custody after he appeared at a routine check-in with ICE. His asylum status had been revoked. He spent 73 days in detention. Without proof, the government stated he was part of a terrorist organization. During his 73 days in detention, Soliman said he never saw sunlight, never breathed fresh air and never ate a raw fruit or vegetable.
Because of his popularity for his work pastoring to very ill and dying children, Soliman got widespread support in Cincinnati. He received 760 letters of support from people in the community. The support was so intense that ICE released him from custody and he now awaits a green card determination.
I also wanted to mention the story of Ruperto Vicens-Marquez who has lived in the U.S. for two decades. He and his brother Emilio co-own a locally well-known Mexican restaurant, Emilio’s Kitchen, in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, a seashore community. Ruperto is head chef. He had moved to the U.S. from Mexico in 2007. He had a visa that was legally renewed and he was authorized to be in the U.S. until 2029.
Ruperto did not show up at work on Oct. 17. ICE had picked him up a block away from the restaurant, said he had entered the U.S. illegally and falsely asserted he had an order of removal from the U.S.
ICE held Ruperto at their immigration detention facility in Newark for over a month. The town of Atlantic Highlands was so upset, advocates in the community organized two demonstrations and created a GoFundMe campaign that raised almost $100,000 for legal defense. On Oct. 18, Ruperto was released by an immigration judge’s order.
The Department of Homeland Security says that 500,000 immigrants have been deported since Trump took office. NPR says 300,000 is a more accurate number.
In immigration court, ICE attorneys are short-circuiting due process by filing motions to pretermit which, if granted, avoid giving immigrants any chance to argue their asylum claim. When such motions are granted, people get deported without a chance to testify. The need for zealous immigration lawyers has never been greater.
Someday this entire enterprise of indiscriminate and racist deportation will be seen for the crime it is. It fits in with other seedier episodes of U.S. history like the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese-American internments and Operation Wetback. If justice ever prevails again, there should be investigations and prosecutions of officials like Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller and Greg Bovino for their violations of due process which have characterized this regime.
ICE officials invariably say they are just following orders but maybe they should be considering whether their orders are legal. When what you are doing is heartless and mean as a crazed rottweiler, it is time to bail.
Jonathan P. Baird lives in Wilmot.