President Trump is staying strong on dealing with illegal immigration, despite since-discredited rumors of amnesty for certain forms of laborers, such as farm workers, and that came up yet again in a somewhat entertaining incident involving a so-called “Dreamer” who deported himself and got arrested when he tried re-entering the country.
As background, former President Barack Obama seemingly ignored American law when he created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which allowed illegal alien minors to remain in the United States without fear of deportation despite not having gotten here legally, a point of anger for many conservatives and legal immigrants. Specifically, it allowed illegal alien minors to become eligible for a work permit, Social Security card, driver’s license, and deferred deportation.
The Trump Administration tried ending the program in 2017, sparking a long court battle, and currently, thanks to a court order, existing DACA grants are generally respected by US immigration enforcers but new ones are not being processed by the government. Further, DACA requires those who leave the country to get advanced permission.
Hence the woes of 34-year-old Erick Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who snuck into America from El Salvador at the age of 14, with his youth making him eligible for the DACA program because he had arrived before the age of 16, though the DACA program was developed well after he arrived in the United States 20 years ago.
Mr. Hernandez was, up until recently, living in East Los Angeles. He was also working toward becoming a legal resident, like his parents, after having married a United States citizen as a wife. However, he had not succeeded in obtaining that citizenship as of the time he made the mistake that will likely lead to his deportation back to El Salvador.
That mistake is that he took the wrong route when driving on the freeway near the Mexican border. Specifically, he missed an exit and so cruised over the border into Mexico, accidentally self-deporting himself via his own car. That was a major problem, as under DACA, travel from America to an international destination requires advance parole, or official permission to leave and then re-enter the U.S.
Mr. Hernandez, as he left the country allegedly by accident and without permission, thus broke the law and so lost his protection under DACA. As he lost his protection when he left the country, he re-entered the country illegally, and so was arrested and detained. He was then transferred to Otay Mesa Detention Center, where he is undergoing expedited removal proceedings so that he can be deported back to El Salvador.
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Watch the local media report on the matter here:
Commenting on the matter, his attorney, Valerie Sigamani, noted that his “mistake” excuse didn’t work out with border officials, saying, “He no longer has DACA. His attempt to come back to the United States and say, ‘This was a mistake. It was an accident. I was not trying to leave the United States,’ was ignored.”
Sigmani added, “He has a lot of hope. He feels like something good is going to happen. He’s a person of faith. But at the same time, he’s sad about the entire situation. He’s afraid of returning to El Salvador. He doesn’t know that country. He hasn’t been there since he was a kid, so he has no idea what it’s like to live in El Salvador.”