News coming out of Iowa.
When a lawyer for Estephanie Izaquirre, a parentless teenager from Honduras, received an e-mail from an immigration official in Des Moines saying the girl should come downtown and “complete the paperwork” Thursday, he thought that meant she was about to get her green card.
Instead, a deportation officer arrested Izaquirre, five days after she graduated from East High School in Des Moines. [desmoinesregister.com]
Both sides of the issue present arguments that are understandable, but the fact is that this girl is fresh from graduating high school. That is hardly a high crime compared to some of the other immigrants staying in the U.S. illegally. More so, “at age 17 (she) was granted special immigrant juvenile status as an abandoned, abused child with nowhere else to go.” She moved beyond that status and became illegal when turning eighteen. I would like to think that immigration officials would consider that history prior to arresting her just a few days after her eighteenth birthday, having it translate over to an approved status as an adult.
The more you consider all the elements of this situation, the less it seems to make sense. Immigration being the hot topic in the news right now, authorities are doing everything they can to show that they are doing their job. This might be evidence that they are doing too much in certain areas. Lori Chasser has it right by saying, “What are we going after juveniles for? I mean, can’t we concentrate on drug traffickers and human traffickers? I don’t understand where we’re going with this enforcement.”