ICE posts DACA-related tweets
A series of tweets from Immigration and Customs Enforcement has people scratching their heads. Four tweets regarding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) were posted on Thursday and retweeted hundreds of times.
DACA, which was created by President Obama, is a federal program that allows undocumented children to go to school and work in the United States.
“DACA is not a protected legal status, but active DACA recipients are typically a lower-level enforcement priority,” one tweet read.
20-year-old Kathy Hernandez woke up to those tweets on Friday morning.
“Instantly my heart sunk, it was terrible,” Hernandez said. “I got a scenario in my head, ‘What if I were to be deported back to my country?’ I’m not even safe in the country of my dreams, where I was practically raised.”
The Hartnell College student has lived in this country since she was 7. She’s had DACA for four years. While she thought it would protect her from deportation back to El Salvador, she was only partially correct.
“If you have DACA, the official position is that you should not be deported, that there is a suspension of deportation,” Immigration Attorney Blanca Zarazua said. “So even though you don’t have legal residency, the government has agreed under DACA to not deport you. That’s your right.”
Other tweets said “Deferred action may be revoked at any time, especially when someone commits a crime or poses a threat to national security,” while another posted statistics like “Since 2015, 1,500 recipients have had their deferred action terminated” because of criminal reason.
Zarazua wants to reassure people that being detained doesn’t mean immediate deportation.
“I think the confusion is many people believe once they’re detained, they’re immediately deportable, that is not the case,” Zarazua said. “In some situations it is. It’s called “expeditable removal,” but in most cases, you have the right to an immigration judge hearing and to an attorney and so I want people to not panic if they happen to be detained.”
