Jesus Peraza, an undocumented immigrant dad who was arrested by ICE after dropping his son off at school, lost his bid to stay in the U.S. and will be subject to “immediate deportation” to his native Honduras, “one of the most violent countries in the Americas.” Despite having no criminal record, Peraza was swept up by Donald Trump’s deportation force last month:
"He dropped you off at school that day, is that right?" I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller asked of Anderson.
"Yes," Anderson said.
"And then he drove off?" Miller asked.
"Yes," Anderson said.
"When did you find out he had been detained?" Miller asked.
"When my uncle went to pick me up, he told me," Anderson said.
Peraza has been in detention since, become one of the thousands of undocumented moms and dads with no criminal record to be targeted for arrest under the Trump regime. The man’s attorney said his asylum claim was unsuccessful, and ICE officials ignored pleas from community advocates and members of Anderson’s school, who asked the agency to take Pereza’s clean record and time in the U.S. into consideration. Now the immigrant dad fears returning to possible danger in Honduras.
According to local WBAL, it’s not just Peraza who stands to be uprooted, because it’s quite possible his entire family will be forced to leave the country as well. Like Peraza, the family’s mother is undocumented, and because Honduras is just too dangerous, the three may move to her native Guatemala in order to be together. Caught in that will be a ten-year-old U.S. citizen who shouldn’t have to leave his school and birth country, but that’s the reality our broken immigration system and nativist administration have handed to him.