January 11, 2013 08:21 AM UTC

Nationally Prominent DREAMer's Family Raided Last Night

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• by: lyjtrpcnf

(I’ve edited this somewhat due to the day’s events and added another update, because my promotion didn’t “stick” this morning. Interesting case study in the power of social media — a less prominent family would not have gotten a reprieve. – promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)

PCG Update: Latina journalist Pilar Marrero reports on a national outcry that stopped deportation in this case — the mother was being driven to Mexico when the driver was called and ordered to return her to her Arizona home.

UPDATE– ICE just confirmed, through past AILA president David Leopold, a stay of removal several minutes ago.  David is a good friend of mine and I alerted him to the situation a few hours ago.

Obama claims to understand the plight of immigrants, yet his administration raided the home of a prominent DREAM activist last night.  

Erika Andiola is a prominent DREAMer.  She has been on the cover of Time Magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/cover…

She is one of the leaders of Arizona’s DREAM coalition.

http://freedomfromfearaward.co…

Partly for these reasons, prominent hispanic news site Latino Rebels describes her as “one of the most well-known DREAMer activists in the country, as well as a champion of comprehensive immigration reform.”

http://www.latinorebels.com/20…

Beyond all of this, she is a friend of mine, and one that I successfully pranked into thinking that an asteroid was going to hit earth on the day of the supposed Mayan apocalypse.

Now Erika and I have had our political disagreements.  In short, I’m a bit more conservative than she is, being a pro-immigrant member of the tea party and all.  Partly because I’m more conservative, I’ve always looked skeptically at Obama’s purported commitment to go after only the really bad immigrants and to bring immigration reform as soon as he could.  

The events of last night may help convince many in the pro-immigrant community that I am right to be skeptical.  You see, last night Erika’s mother Maria Arreola and her son Heriberto Andiola  Arreola were picked up in an ICE raid in or around Phoenix Arizona.  This is a fast changing situation and information is currently  limited, but I understand Maria and Heriberto to have never been charged with any crime that would make them ineligible to be considered low-priority for enforcement. Recently both were charged with traffic violations which, according to the recently revised ICE protocols, should not have resulted in this detention.  Maria may have been previously stopped at the border in 1998.  

I understand that Maria is scheduled to be deported today.  I have been repeatedly trying to call the following numbers to voice my disagreement with this deportation:

602-766-7030

202-732-4242

and

202-732-5200

So far I have had little to no success…however some of my other friends have white house contacts and have been relaying the information ahead.  The White House has been made aware that this is occurring.  Scant hours may tell whether Maria is deported or not. I ask that anybody reading this who has any further ideas on how to prevent this deportation from occurring to please post them.

Sending ICE agents to arrest and deport the non-violent parent of a prominent DREAM activist hardly seems pro-immigrant.  I am hoping that this deportation is immediately halted, and if not, that people can open up their eyes to the fact that Obama is not as pro-immigrant as he claims to be.