After a “dreamer”
immigration applicant speaks out at a press conference in Mississippi, federal agents arrest her.
About two weeks ago, Daniela Vargas hid in the bedroom closet of her Jackson, Miss., home after watching immigration officials handcuff her father in the family’s driveway.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained the 22-year-old’s father and brother, Argentines who were living in the country illegally, amid the Trump administration’s deportation effort that has riled immigrant communities across the country.
Although Vargas was in the process of renewing her status as a “Dreamer” to stay in the country and obtain a work permit — a status she had allowed to lapse — she feared that immigration officials would come after her next.
But those fears did not stop Vargas from speaking out at a news conference Wednesday at Jackson City Hall, alongside immigrant rights advocates.
“Today my father and brother await deportation, she said, “while I continue to fight this battle as a Dreamer to help contribute to this country, which I feel that is very much my country.”
After leaving the news conference with her friend, two law enforcement cars pulled her over. ICE agents reportedly opened the car door, telling Vargas, “you know who we are and you know why we’re here,” her friend, Jordan Sanders, told Univision.
They handcuffed her and took her into custody.
Vargas’ detention shocked and angered immigrant rights advocates, who feared ICE officials may have retaliated against her for speaking publicly about her case. It also heightened existing anxieties that “Dreamers” registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program created by President Barack Obama could now be targeted for deportation.
She had been granted the two-year protection under DACA twice before, in December 2012 and in November 2014, Abigail Peterson, one of her attorneys, told The Associated Press. But her DACA status had expired in November 2016, and it was not until mid-February that she was able to come up with the $495 application fee to renew it.
Vargas was 7 when she came to the United States from Cordova, Argentina, with her father, mother and brother on a three-month visitor’s visa in 2001. Their visa expired, but the family stayed, establishing a life in Mississippi. Her mother eventually moved out of the state after her parents divorced.
Peterson said she told ICE agents over the phone that Vargas had a pending DACA case. However, the agents responded that Vargas was a “visa overstay” and would be detained, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
Her lawyers expect she will be detained in Louisiana, where they will try to get her released on her own recognizance, according to the AP. A federal immigration judge will decide whether she is eligible for immigration relief.
In a statement, an ICE spokesman confirmed that immigration officials took Vargas, “an unlawfully present Argentinian citizen,” into custody Wednesday “during a targeted immigration enforcement action” after the agency verified that her DACA status had lapsed.
The hashtag #freedany began to spread on social media Wednesday, and an immigrant rights group, United We Dream, encouraged immigrant youth to sign a petition to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly demanding Vargas’ release. The group called out President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have previously expressed sympathy to DACA immigrants.
Trump called DACA an “unconstitutional executive amnesty” in August, but his words on the topic have been more ambiguous since taking office. At a recent news conference, Trump called the program “one of the most difficult subjects I have” and pledged to “show great heart” toward those enrolled in DACA.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted that he had been in touch with the Department of Homeland Security to obtain more information about the case. “Disturbing that ICE may have followed her from an immigration news conference,” he said in the tweet.
Her friend, Sanders, told Univision, that if she knew this could happen, she would have never let her go to the news conference.
Being pulled over by ICE agents, Sanders said, was “chilling.”
“It was like they knew who we were and they were looking for us,” she said.