Featured Is ICE arresting and deporting American Citizens? Some say, yes.

Here's one story of Caroline Dias Goncalves that made national headlines.

I was relieved and grateful to watch Caroline Dias Goncalves, one of our beloved TheDream.US Scholars, walk out of an ICE private detention center Friday evening —finally free after 15 harrowing days. She never should have been there.

Caroline was stopped by local police on June 5th for a minor traffic violation. What followed was an unjust and likely illegal handoff to immigration enforcement—ripping her from her life, her studies, and her community. This is not just a policy failure. It is a moral one.

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Source: https://www.thedream.us/news/read-statement-from-caroline-dias-goncalves-following-release-from-ice-detention/#:~:text=She never should have been,her studies, and her community.

More about her:

Born in Brazil and raised in Utah since she was 7 years old, Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word “Dreamer” refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Her detention gained attention after questions were raised over how Immigration and Customs Enforcement became aware of Dias Goncalves' location and immigration status quickly after a sheriff’s deputy stopped her in Colorado, a state with laws restricting coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

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Was looking for why this girl was even detained in the first place by ICE and the same article reports that...

Relatives of Dias Goncalves previously told The Salt Lake Tribune she arrived in the U.S. as a child with her family on a tourist visa, which they overstayed. Finding a way to remain in the country legally, Dias Goncalves applied for asylum. That case remains pending.

In her response to NBC News, McLaughlin said that the visa Dias Goncalves had come in with had expired over a decade ago.

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Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/dreamer-describes-ice-detention-scared-alone-rcna214740

I emphasize "same article" because when I was reading up on this story, most of the articles did not mention why Goncalves was detained. They just reported the detainment in a negative light. Did the reporters of this story know why and just decided to not report on it? If so, that is misleading and something like that would be a big reason behind the perception that ICE could round up American citizens or even legal residents.

BUT, this does show that immigrants who haven't committed violent crime are being detained by ICE, which is something different than what Trump claims... that he's only targeting criminals...

Dias Goncalves' attorney, Jon Hyman, has said his client “has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant” at the time of her ICE arrest.

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Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/dreamer-describes-ice-detention-scared-alone-rcna214740

Perhaps that's the only wrong here.

This one also made national headlines. The case of Ximena Arias Cristobal who was detained in Georgia following a traffic stop.

My parents and I came to the U.S. in 2010 when I was just 4 years old. For over 15 years, I’ve called this country—and Georgia—home. I grew up in Dalton and went through the public school system, from kindergarten through high school graduation.

On May 5th, I was pulled over for allegedly turning right at a “No Turn on Red” sign. What began as a simple traffic stop quickly escalated. I was taken to Whitfield County Jail, where I stayed for two days. While I was there, I learned I was being transferred to Stewart Detention Center—where my dad was already being held.

My time at Stewart Detention Center was life-altering. Stewart is a private detention facility known for its mistreatment of immigrants. Detention centers are supposed to be temporary holding spaces while people determine their legal options. But at Stewart, we were treated like criminals. The conditions, the language used toward us, the lack of dignity and compassion—it felt more like punishment than due process.

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Source: https://www.thedream.us/news/ximena...mmigrants-to-attack-our-constitutional-order/

I follow up to see why was this girl even detained in the first place, especially being taken to an immigration detention center... still searching...

Arias Cristobal, who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 4, had been in ICE custody starting in early May, when she was stopped by local police in Dalton over allegations that she had made an improper turn while driving.

She was charged with driving without a license and making an improper turn and booked into the county jail in Dalton. ICE then took custody of Arias Cristobal, who is in the U.S. illegally, at the county jail, which has an agreement to work with federal immigration authorities.

She had been held at the ICE detention facility in Lumpkin since then. Initially, that facility was also housing her father, who had been taken into ICE custody in April, also after a traffic stop. But he was granted bond last week and released.

Even though Arias Cristobal is an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. as a child — a group commonly known as "Dreamers" — she did not qualify for an Obama-era program that protects half a million of those individuals from deportation.

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Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-to-release-georgia-teen-ximena-arias-cristobal/

So she's undocumented immigrant and her detainment stemmed from the traffic incident. Again, the problem seems to be that this goes against what Trump is stating publically, since the charges against her were dropped. So here we have another immigrant, although technically committed a jailable offense but that was dropped, but she's still facing deportation proceedings...

Though she was released from detention, Arias Cristobal will continue to face deportation to Mexico, as ICE has started a deportation case against her in immigration court. The Department of Homeland Security has previously said she and her father should face "consequences" for being in the U.S. illegally.

Given her time in the U.S. and lack of a criminal record, local community members, including the Republican lawmaker representing Dalton in the Georgia legislature, expressed support for Arias Cristobal and called for her release. Community outrage intensified once Dalton authorities dismissed the traffic charges against Arias Cristobal after revealing she had been mistakenly stopped by the police officer who arrested her.

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Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-to-release-georgia-teen-ximena-arias-cristobal/

AgnosticBoy said:

1. Are all or most claims of ICE arresting and deporting people made up or a stretch like in Gavidia's story?

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I believe American citizens being arrested by ICE is an exaggeration based on my research so far. I think some get that idea that Americans are targets based on how cases are being reported where context about the person's legal status if sometimes left out. I suspect that details are left out intentionally by the media in order to give the impression that Americans and legal residents are also being targeted by ICE.

From some of the cases that I've found being reported as such, I find that the person being arrested has no legal immigration status in the US. So it's not just ICE just randomly picking up anyone regardless of their status as some of the media reports my suggests or lead some to conclude. If there's any wrongdoing (morally-speaking, but not legally speaking) on ICE's part, it is that publicly they are saying they will only target criminal immigrants, but in several cases I've looked up, I see that they are also going after those who haven't committed a crime since they've been in the US.

In other cases where I've found American citizens being arrested by ICE, it's usually for impeding law enforcement or even striking an ICE agent.

AgnosticBoy said:

2. Are there real cases of Americans being wrongly targeted by ICE? Is it widespread problem or an isolated incident?

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Haven't found any yet. CLosest might be Abrego Garcia being wrongly deported. He wasn't an American citizen, but he was supposed to remain in the US per court order. Jordin Melgar-Salmeron is another wrong deported migrant that was supposed to remain in the US per court order..he's under protected status. But I suspect this is an exception and a mistake and not the norm. Otherwise, we'd hear about a lot more cases of people being ordered to be returned to the US.

rebel said:

We are headed there.​

What to know about the DOJ revoking citizenship of naturalized Americans​

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www.axios.com

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Its true that 'naturalized' citizens can lose their citizenship. I found that this has been established law apparently since the early 20th century and has been used by other presidents. For those reasons, I don't think this goes with Trump trying to gain power to deport whoever he wants, including American citizens, and for any reason (without any due process).

I do believe though that he wants to deport every non-American person in the US if he could. I think that's the extent of how extreme he's willing to go.

Here are some relevant info I found on "denaturalization"...

Denaturalization is the revocation of United States citizenship of a naturalized immigrant by the U.S. government. By law, denaturalization can only occur by a judicial order either through civil proceedings or a criminal conviction for naturalization fraud.

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The federal government may seek to revoke U.S. citizenship under two general grounds for denaturalization:

1) Illegal procurement of naturalization: Procuring naturalization illegally means that the individual was not eligible for naturalization in the first place because he or she does not meet or failed to comply with all of the statutory requirements for naturalization.

In addition, the federal government may choose to denaturalize an individual if he or she is or becomes a member or affiliated with the Communist Party, another totalitarian party, or a terrorist organization within ten years immediately preceding the filing of the naturalization application or the five years immediately following naturalization. In this case, affiliation with certain political parties or organizations precludes naturalization because it shows that the individual is not attached to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

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Source: https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-on-denaturalization/

Was used in 2015...

For instance, in February 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas revoked the naturalization of Sammy Chang, a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Korea, after Chang admitted to smuggling women from South Korea and forcing them to work for him prior to his naturalization, an act that adversely reflected on his good moral character. The court denaturalized Chang through civil denaturalization proceedings because his conduct of obtaining forced labor should have barred him from obtaining citizenship.

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Source: same as above

Just found a good debate that covers the topic of Trump deporting Americans. Listening to the debate almost moved me to the fence (undecided) on the issue, but thinking further, I still believe that it's an exaggeration to say that Trump wants the power to deport anyone. Maybe you can stretch that and say the implications are there but I think he knows the law is his limit as in you can't deport a natural born citizen, esp. one that hasn't broken the law.

@rebel

True, naturalized Americans are citizens. I have my eyes open to see if any leader is moving towards communism. I know they won't come out and say it explicitly, but I'd like to think the separation of powers and the Constitution will be safeguards.

At the same time, I'm also aware of the politics between the two opposing party. I know that some Democrat leaders are trying to paint a narrative that Trump is a threat to democracy and is leading us into a totalitarian style government. They've said that so many times that unfortunately it's hard to believe, and I have to also consider that it's being used for political reasons (to scare and use slippery slopes arguments) and not because it's true.

With all of those factors in mind, at worse, I think Trump wants to deport every undocumented immigrant, including those who are here on student visas (at least the ones that support Palestine). Some could say it is a xenophobic policy but then you could also argue that he's doing it because they are illegal. Again, the strongest point for those who think he wants to deport any opposition, immigrant, and even Americans, is the recent DOJ memo on denaturalization (read it here ... point #5 on the list) because that actually involves going after naturalized American citizens. But as I brought up before, denaturalization is nothing new and other presidents have denaturalized citizens. Now if Trump tries to broaden who can get denaturalized or the reasons for it, and he includes even minor offences like a speeding ticket, then that would move me more to your side a I would see that as being extreme. Such a move could be used to deport almost any naturalized citizen since almost everyone gets a traffic ticket at some point. At that point call it whatever you'd like (xenophobic, totalitarian, etc), no type of extremism should be allowed.

For anyone interested, here's some legal and historical context on denaturalization...

Historically, the U.S. has reserved denaturalization proceedings for individuals who committed
egregious crimes, including people who were found to be war criminals and terrorist funders. The
most notable of those cases involved Nazi war criminals. For example, the federal government
pursued and obtained the denaturalization of John (Ivan) Kalymon of Troy, Michigan in 2007
and his removal in 2011. Kalymon was an armed member of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP)
in Nazi-occupied L’viv, Ukraine who voluntarily participated in a series of persecutory anti-Jewish
events, including personally killing at least one Jew and wounding another, before moving to the
U.S. and naturalizing in 1955. The government’s history of focusing its denaturalization efforts on
war criminals and terrorist funders reflected a desire to expend limited government resources on
only the most extreme situations.

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Source: https://immigrationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Fact-Sheet-on-Denaturalization.pdf

For civil denaturalization, the government must show “clear, convincing, and unequivocal, evidence which does not leave the issue in doubt” that the individual procured naturalization illegally and/or concealed or willfully misrepresented a material fact during the naturalization process. There is no statute of limitations for pursuing a civil denaturalization case.


For a criminal conviction, the federal government must show “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that the individual violated 18 U.S.C. § 1425 because the individual knowingly obtained or attempted to obtain naturalization through fraud for him or herself or for another individual. Denaturalization as a result of a criminal conviction is subject to a ten-year statute of limitation.


In 2017, the Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision in Maslenjak v. United States that only an illegal act that played a role in an individual’s acquisition of U.S. citizenship could lead to criminal denaturalization, narrowing the scope under which an individual may be denaturalized under 18 U.S.C. § 1425. In Maslenjak, the government under the Obama and Trump administrations sued to revoke Diana Maslenjak’s U.S. citizenship for making false statements regarding her husband’s membership in a Bosnian Serb militia in the 1990s.

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Source: same source as above

Democrat Congressman Hakeem Jeffries made the claim that American citizens and children are being deported..
Watch at :45 second mark to :50...


Wish he went into more details about this but I'll try to look up the case about the cancer patient.