DREAMer disputes deportation events
Feds say he lost protection by going to Mexico; allies tell court that isn’t true
Lawyers for the only known DREAMer deported by the Trump administration filed supporting statements in court Friday from people on both sides of the Mexican border who corroborate Juan Manuel Montes’ account that immigration agents wrongly forced him across the border.
The court filings include statements from the last people to see the 23-year-old Montes in the U.S. and the first people to see him in Mexico after he was deported by Customs and Border Protection agents shortly after midnight on Feb. 19 from Calexico, Calif., where he had lived with his family since age 9.
Montes, an undocumented immigrant who had protections against deportation under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), said he had just finished dinner with a friend and was hailing a ride home when he was seized by agents on the street and forced across the border.
The Department of Homeland Security said it has no record that agents deported Montes that night. The department said Montes crossed into Mexico voluntarily, immediately revoking his DACA status, which shields undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.
All of those who made statements on Montes’ behalf said he had no intention of going to Mexico and was visibly shaken when he found himself back there.
Both sides agree on what happened next: Montes tried to reenter the following night by jumping the border wall, was caught by Border Patrol agents and deported back to Mexico.
The filing in federal court in Southern California shines new light on the Trump administration’s controversial moves to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants. Montes’ lawyers are asking a judge to order Homeland Security to let him return home.
President Trump campaigned to end the DACA program, but kept the program after taking office and said he would treat protected DREAMers “with great heart.” Still, immigration agents have said these young immi- grants are not immune from deportation. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Wednesday that the program may soon be struck down by federal courts.
When USA TODAY first reported Montes’ case on April 18, Homeland Security said his DACA status had expired in 2015. The next day, the department changed its account, saying his DACA status was active, but that it was revoked the moment he voluntarily left the U.S.
Montes’ attorneys say the only reason he left the country was because he had been deported.
The new filings include a state- ment from Gil Kerlikowske, who was the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection until Trump became president. Homeland Security said Montes could not have been telling the truth because under an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, agents no longer deport people between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
In his sworn statement, Kerlikowske did not personally vouch for Montes’ account, but he challenged Homeland Security’s assertion that middle-of-the-night deportations no longer take place. “I would not be surprised that repatriations in violation of the arrangements continued to exist,” Kerlikowske wrote.
In another statement, Danielle Jimenez said she had dinner with Montes at her home on the U.S. side of the border on Feb. 18. She said they had a calm night eating and chatting, and that Montes didn’t say a word about going to Mexico.
“Juan said he was going home when he left my house,” Jimenez said. “I told him to text me when he got home, because I wanted to make sure he was safe. I texted him a few times that night, but got no response.”
A few hours later, another friend of Montes on the Mexican side of the border said she received a series of frantic calls from him. Leslie Ramirez said she was shocked to hear him say he was in Mexico because he had always said his immigration status barred him from leaving the U.S.
When she met him, he emotionally explained how he had been deported, Ramirez said.
“He was holding back tears, and it was clear to me that he was too embarrassed to cry in front of me,” Ramirez said. “Juan Manuel told me that he didn’t understand why he had been kicked out and didn’t know what to do.”
Since his deportation, Montes has been living with relatives in western Mexico.
“Juan Manuel told me that he didn’t understand why he had been kicked out and didn’t know what to do.” Leslie Ramirez