Undocumented Rutgers Student Summoned To Meet With ICE Agents

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - A Rutgers student who is leading the movement in support of unauthorized immigrants has been summoned to appear before federal deportation officers because her protected status has expired. Carimer Andujar, 21, who was raised in Passaic but is currently studying engineering at Rutgers, received notice in March that she must appear next week at Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) headquarters in Newark. She will meet with ICE next Tuesday, May 9, NJ.com is reporting.

Now a junior in college, Andujar came to America at age 4 when her mother fled a domestic violence situation in the Dominican Republic. For the past four years, she has been protected from being deported because of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order, part of the Dream Act pushed by President Barack Obama that gives temporary protection to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. The entire Dream Act never passed Congress or became law. President Trump has said DACA children will not be affected by his immigration overhaul.

Andujar's DACA status expired April 28, and she applied in December 2016 to renew her application. But two questions were inadvertently left blank and the application has not yet been renewed, she told NJ.com. An ICE official described her meeting as routine and not targeted.

“All requirements for those reporting regularly to ICE are determined on a case-by-case basis," ICE spokesman Luis Martinez told Patch. "The frequency and duration are dependent on many factors including, but not limited to, pending appeals or petitions, issuance of travel documents or awaiting to go before an immigration judge.”

While her attorney, Jason Scott Camillo said they don't yet know exactly why Adujar was called in, he told NJ.com he does not think she will be deported or arrested. Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th), said ICE told his office Andujar will not be deported.

However, Andjuar said she is worried she was targeted because of her activism. She is president of UndocuRutgers and has spoken at many anti-Trump rallies on campus. According to Rutgers' student newspaper The Daily Targum, there are about 450 undocumented students currently attending Rutgers.

"There is no other reason for requesting me to speak with a deportation officer," Andujar told NJ.com. "The only difference between me and other DACA students would be that I am outspoken."

Rally Against the Immigration Ban/Author: David Geitgey Sierralupe from Eugene, Oregon/Wikimedia Commons