The Trump administration’s disturbing trend of ensnaring American citizens with its immigration crackdown has shown no signs of stopping, with the latest incident involving a 19-year-old whose family says he was held in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility for 10 days.
The White House is trying to beat back allegations surrounding its April arrest and detention of Jose Hermosillo of Albuquerque, New Mexico. As NBC News reported:
Immigration agents detained a U.S. citizen for 10 days after he was accused of illegally entering the United States while reportedly visiting Arizona this month, his family said.
But the Department of Homeland Security said Jose Hermosillo’s arrest “was the direct result of Hermosillo’s own actions and statements.” Hermosillo, 19, who lives in Albuquerque, was detained near Nogales, Arizona, on April 8, court documents say.
They allege that he illegally entered the country from Mexico and was found “without the proper immigration documents.”
There’s dispute over some of the basic facts in the case. The Trump administration said the arrest occurred after Hermosillo approached Border Patrol agents in Arizona and identified himself as a Mexican citizen who had entered the U.S. illegally, and the Department of Homeland Security posted what it says is a signed affidavit from Hermosillo that support its claims.
But according to Arizona Public Media, Hermosillo’s girlfriend’s aunt said that he did, in fact, say he was a U.S. citizen “but they didn’t believe him” and that he probably would’ve been deported to Mexico if his family hadn’t provided officials with his birth certificate and Social Security card. The Trump administration didn’t immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Trump’s immigration crackdown has swept up people entitled to full citizenship rights. In late January, I wrote about Indigenous people reportedly getting ensnared — an issue that led the Navajo Nation’s president to advise tribal members to keep their Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood and other identification on them to essentially serve as their freedom papers in the event that immigration agents accosted them. And reporting for The Bulwark in February, Adrian Carrasquillo sounded the alarm about Puerto Ricans (who, to be clear, are U.S. citizens) getting caught up in Trump’s immigration crackdown, as well.
The Trump administration says it’s targeting violent criminals — yet many of those affected haven’t even been accused of any crime at all. Visa recipients such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk know this firsthand, and too many Americans are learning that not even full-on citizenship can protect them from falling into the administration’s clutches.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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