Campaign Action
Arleta, California, resident Jose Luis García went outside to enjoy his morning cup of coffee and to water his lawn. He had no idea his morning was about be turned upside down by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents waiting to arrest him. It’s a worry that hadn’t crossed his mind in the first place, as an immigrant with legal status:
The arrest came as a shock to the 32-year-old [daughter Natalie] Garcia, who said that her father is a law-abiding, legal permanent resident who came to the United States nearly 50 years ago when he was 13-years-old.
According to Natalie, ICE is targeting her dad over a domestic violence dispute from nearly 20 years ago, a case they thought was closed after he completed anger management classes and probation. But no one seems to be safe from Donald Trump’s ethnic cleansing campaign, now that his federal immigration agents are unleashed.
Natalie said she heard her dad’s screams that morning and thought he was having a medical emergency. Instead, when she ran outside, she found eight ICE agents putting her dad into handcuffs. “I didn’t know they were ICE at that moment,” she said, and demanded to see their IDs and a warrant. They refused.
“She said the agents responded rudely, did not answer most of her questions, and told her they did not have to show her the warrant,” the Mercury News reported. They told her that it was not a criminal warrant, but an administrative one.” ICE cannot enter a home without a warrant signed by a judge, which probably answers why they waited for him to come outside.
Any and all tricks to get their targets, including dads who have lived here for decades.
"I feel bad, I'm still confused,” his wife Dolores said. He’s still in detention for “past criminal convictions,” ICE claimed, but the agency would give no further information on what those convictions are. “I do not know why this happened,” she continued. “It's the hardest thing for me, when [my grandchildren] asks me, 'What time does my dad arrive?'"
The family has now been in contact with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for legal assistance. “It never crossed my mind,” Natalie said. “We’ve been seeing it on the news. I think for us, we were thinking it has to happen to people who aren’t legally here. Or who don’t have the legal status that my parents have. But It’s not. It’s happening to everybody, even if you do have a green card and you’re legally here, it’s happening to them, too.”