A Lubbock, Texas, family was driving to Walmart for diapers and formula when a local police officer stopped them for a "lane change issue." Immigration authorities then arrived at the scene and detained the husband, who is in the process of obtaining his green card. His wife, a U.S. citizen, shared her family's uncertainty about their future in an exclusive interview with the Latin Times.
On Wednesday, January, 22, Ashley and José, who requested that only their first names be used, realized they were on their last batch of diapers and formula. They decided to drive to their nearest Walmart and buckled their three kids in the car, taking their last two bottles of milk and a couple of extra diapers.
"My husband noticed that there was a police officer behind us, and we changed lanes. As soon as we did that, the police officer turned on his lights," Ashley said.
José, who is a Honduran national, does not have a driver's license, but he is responsible for moving his family around the city because his wife cannot drive. He gave the officer the vehicle's insurance, registration, and explained to him that he was in the process of obtaining a license, handing him his passport instead.
"We waited like 50 minutes, and then more cars were pulling up. We realized they were immigration agents—they all rushed to our car, and the main agent in charge was really tough," Ashley said.
The agent questioned José and verified Ashley's citizenship, as well as their kids'. "I gave them their social security cards, and they photographed them," she recounted.
"Then they told us my husband was being detained," she said, adding that José was "grabbed by his hoodie" and pushed against the window next to where his 4-year-old son, who has asthma, was sitting.
José told the Latin Times he does not remember much. "Everything happened very fast," he said in Spanish, adding that his mind and body were in a state of shock while he was being taken.
Meanwhile Ashley was trying to calm her son, who witnessed the scene. "He was breathing heavily and asking me questions about why his dad's being taken," she said.
"I told him that his dad is being detained by immigration because he only has a passport. He asked me if these were the same people who are taking all of the Latinos away, and I said, yes, it's them."
The agents informed Ashley that she was free to go, but she replied, "No, I'm not free to go because I don't know how to drive." The officers instructed her to wait with her children in the car on the side of the road for "a few hours."
"I had my two babies crying because they needed diapers and formula, and I couldn't do anything," the mother recounted. "I knew we would have to deal with immigration, but for them to disrespect me and my kids like that—making us stay on the side of the road in 18-degree weather, with my son who has asthma—it's something I never thought would happen," she added.
José's detention was processed, and he was taken back to his family three hours later.
"I think he probably would've been placed in detention had it not been for the fact that his U.S. citizen wife needed food for her baby," José's immigration lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said.
José now has to appear before an immigration judge who will decide whether he can stay in the country while his green card application is processed.
U.S. citizens who marry someone who entered the country illegally face a long and complicated road to get permanent residence. "He has to go through the consular green card process to get legal status," his lawyer explained, adding it takes anywhere between two to six years.
While José's lawyer claims it is likely that the judge assigned to his case will simply allow him to continue with his green card application inside the country, "there is a realm of possibility where the judge could order him deported."
As this case unfolds, the Trump administration is conducting its first wave of deportation operations nationwide. Federal authorities claim to be focusing on arresting criminals, but border czar Tom Homan recently revealed people with no criminal records have been arrested as well. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported 956 arrests on Sunday, 286 on Saturday, and 593 on Friday.
Immigration advocates emphasize the importance of mixed-status families and undocumented individuals being informed about their rights when confronted by local or federal authorities.
"The fact that the Lubbock police officer called ICE is just a reminder to people that every police agency and every individual police officer is going to take different actions," Lincoln-Goldfinch said. "It's really crucial for people to know that you don't have to give a foreign passport as a form of identification, you don't have to tell a police officer your immigration status, and we all have a right to remain silent."
As for Ashley and José, uncertainty and rumors of the possible deportation of "entire families" cloud their vision for their family's future.
"I'm just really scared about this whole situation. I don't know what's going to happen," Ashley said. "There are innocent people like my husband who have not committed any crimes—they're taking the innocent ones, the ones trying to support a family."
Adding to the complexity of the situation, Lincoln-Goldfinch criticized the processing of people like José, claiming it is just inefficient if the Trump administration's goal is to expedite the deportation of criminals.
"What happens when someone like him gets into deportation proceedings is it just clogs the already backlogged court system. This is someone who has no criminal history. And yet the Trump administration, with actions like these, places him in line in front of the people that they want to be focusing on."
In a recent interview with ABC News, border czar Homan stated that while ICE focuses on arresting criminals, he is preparing to expand the scope of deportations to include a much broader population. "If you're in the country illegally, you're on the table," he said.
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