It's simply cruel.

Among other issues, Donald Trump ran on a campaign to remove eleven million undocumented people from the United States. He didn't care about what we know about undocumented immigration in our country. Instead, it's all about law and order and punishing people, no matter how small the infraction and how negative the consequences for the deported, their families, and the country. Trump rarely demonstrates compassion towards his fellow human beings and this is just another terrible example.
On Thursday, February 9, 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported García De Rayos, a 35-year mother of two teenagers who had been living in the U.S. for over 21 years. García De Rayos was deported to Nogales, Mexico, after being arrested in Phoenix during her semi-annual check-in to request permission to remain in the U.S. According to The New York Times, For eight years, she had checked in at the federal ICE officials, a requirement since she was caught using a fake Social Security number during an immigration raid in 2008 at a water park where she worked.
Rayos is now another deported migrant at the Kino Border Initiative, the soup kitchen and shelter where I volunteered three weeks ago in Nogales, Mexico.

I think that there might have been some sympathy for a Trump administration had it pursued some combination of increased deportations of recently arrived individuals; those who had orders of removals and/or missed their hearings; and some expansion of crimes that would fall under deportable offenses. In effect, a ramped up version of what President Obama had been doing.

Instead, the Trump administration decided to deport a 35-year old married mother of two US teenage citizens. A woman whose only crime seems to be using someone else's Social Security number through which she received no benefits, and which really only turns into a voluntary contribution towards all Americans' retirement. A woman who had lived in the US for over two decades. A woman whose deportation will tear a family apart. A woman who has been part of our community, our Church, and lives. A woman who checked in periodically with immigration officials as required. A woman who went to her immigration check-in knowing the full risks of what might happen to her and what her other options were. There is no compassion in this deportation order.

It's simply cruel.

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