'Roundup' of Illegal Immigrants Terrifies East Austin Families

EAST AUSTIN, TX - The Department of Homeland Security recently launched a mass deportation of Central American illegal immigrants and the initiative has shaken up an East Austin family.

Hilda Ramirez, a 28-year-old mother from San Marcos, Guatemala, lives in an East Austin shelter home run by a not-for-profit with her 9-year-old son Ivan. Ramirez fled her home country about a year-and-a-half ago to escape Ivan’s abusive grandparents, NPR reported.

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“When I arrive at the house in East Austin, there are kids playing outside and eyes peeking through curtains at the street. The ongoing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have terrified immigrants who lost their cases and await deportation, people like Hilda Ramirez,” NPR reporter John Burnett said.

Both Ramirez and Ivan’s requests for asylum were turned down, and now they live in fear of deportation. Ramirez wears an electronic ankle monitor so ICE knows where she is at all times, NPR reported.

“Every time a car stops on the street I think it’s them and they’ve come to take us away. I can’t sleep. I’m very afraid,” she told Burnett tearfully.

On Monday, DHS secretary Jeh Johnson released a statement saying the department was working to rapidly deport Central American illegal immigrants and would focus on families with children.

He said in the statement that 121 individuals have been taken into custody. Most were from Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina, and were are in the process of being repatriated.

According to the DHS statement, since the summer of 2014 the department has been removing Central American illegal immigrants at a rate of about 14 airplane flights a week. In the past most of these deportees have been singles.

The American Civil Right’s Union condemned Johnson’s statement with a statement of their own.

“These raids are a scare tactic to deter other families fleeing violence in Central America from coming to the United States. Secretary Johnson has himself admitted the raids are designed to deport as many as possible, as quickly as possible,” Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in the statement.

“The administration is doubling down on a system that is rigged against these families. Many of these mothers and children had no lawyers because they could not afford them. Without counsel, traumatized refugees don’t understand what is happening in court and cannot get their legitimate asylum claims heard,” she continued.

Johnson said in the DHS announcement the actions are necessary because there has been a recent in climb in apprehensions of Central American illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Southern border.

The department issued new guidelines in response which included a focus on border security and the removal of those apprehended at the border or who came here illegally after January 1, 2014.

DHS recently filed an appeal for the District Court decision on the 1997 Reno V. Flores case, which dictates how detained illegal immigrant children should be housed and released.

According to Johnson’s statement, the District Court decision said this case which was originally meant to apply to unaccompanied children now applies to minors who arrive with their families.

“The decision, and the resulting injunction, significantly constrains our ability to respond to an increasing flow of illegal migration into the United States,” Johnson said in the announcement.

“We have appealed the decision, and the appellate court has agreed to hear the appeal on an expedited basis. Meanwhile, we have implemented significant reforms to how we operate our family residential centers to transition them to temporary processing facilities for these individuals, and have taken steps to ensure compliance with the District Court’s July 24 and August 21 orders,” he said.

Johnson said in the announcement steps are being taken to help those fleeing “poverty or violence” in Central America. For example, Congress’ recently-enacted omnibus spending bill includes $750 million in aid for Central America.

DHS is working on new mechanisms for the process and screening of Central American refugees which could provide more legal opportunities into the U.S. The mechanism expands the Central American Minors Program and some children have already been brought into the country as a part of it.

“As I have said repeatedly, our borders are not open to illegal migration; if you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values,” Johnson said in the statement.