The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have deported 23-year-old Rocío Hernández Pérez, a young immigration activist who was born in Veracruz, Mexico and brought to the U.S. illegally as a child, after a judge found that she was not eligible for relief from deportation procedures. ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa told the AP that Perez "was removed from the country," while the Mexican Consulate confirmed that the activist had been flown back to Mexico City. Pérez, one of the "Dream 30," a group of 34 young undocumented immigrants whose ranks swelled as they staged a protest of immigration policies, which saw them surrender themselves to authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border and request asylum.
The 34 immigrants crossed an international bridge from Mexico into Laredo, Texas on September 30, and were detained by immigration authorities. According to the group's lawyer, David Bennon, one was released that night on parole, seven parents and minors were paroled the following day for what authorities deemed was "significant public benefit", one was paroled because of possible qualification for "special immigrant juvenile status", and the 25 others -- including Pérez -- all filed "credible fear" asylum claims. Pérez was deported this morning "after the IJ confirmed the asylum office's denial of credible fear", said Bennon.
EFE reported earlier this month that the 23-year-old had come to North Carolina when she was four years old. She told the network that after finishing high school in the state, she decided to "self-deport and return to Mexico to see if I could continue my studies", as she could not work or obtain a driver's license in North Carolina. Pérez added that she had had a tough time of it in Mexico, experiencing discrimination from her classmates there, as they considered her a foreigner for having lived for so long in the United States.
Her mother, Rocío Pérez, told website Latino Rebels that her daughter's aunt and uncle had been kidnapped by members of the Zeta drug cartel. "[Coming back to the United States] was her only chance for surviving, without having to hide and run," Pérez told Latino Rebels in Spanish. "My heart dropped, and I kept asking, 'Why is this still happening to us?'" Immigration and Customs authorities gave no reason for the denial of the claim.
Bennon wrote on the blog of immigration lawyer Matthew Kolken that out of the 25 "credible fear" asylum cases filed, 17 had been approved and seven denied, with a review pending. He added that he was "not optimistic" about the chances of the decision being reversed. "The clear message from DHS is: don't try this again. We don't care if you were once a Dreamer, once you set foot outside the U.S., it's as though you were never here."
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