Last Friday, ICE detained a local activist from Occupy ICE San Antonio in retaliation for his political work. 18 years old Sergio, AKA Mapache, was detained as he left the occupy camp to go for a morning walk. According to fellow anti-ICE protesters, three vans ambushed him at the road by the camp before an ICE agent started yelling at him that he was under arrest.

Mapache came to the US from Mexico as a two-year old child and was granted DACA: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an US immigration policy allowing children brought to the country “illegally” a temporarily leave to remain. He explained to the ICE officer that he recently renewed his DACA, but the agent said that they revoked it because Mapache was “a bad person.” In a matter oh hours, Mapache was transferred to the Pearsall detention center, and then to Webb Detention Center in Laredo, Texas. Currently he is detained and awaiting a hearing scheduled for October.

The petition set up in solidarity with Sergio reads: “This is an act of State Sanctioned terror by ICE. Mapache was picked up while peacefully protesting the unethical and immoral treatment of immigrants by ICE and DHS.”

Sergio’s friends too think that ICE planned and targeted their attack on the day after his previous DACA expired and the new document’s renewal was pending.

According to the social media page set up in solidarity with Mapache, “he is a dedicated, long-time community activist who has committed himself to fighting deportations, police violence, and corporate exploitation. He is only 18 years old, fresh out of high school, and he has already contributed and sacrificed a lot to local activism.”

One of Occupy ICE activists, speaking to Freedom News, said “The building’s [outside which the Occupy ICE camp is located] main function was to process people to ship them out to larger facilities. (…) He [Mapache] is a political prisoner and ICE is trying to make an example out of him.”

What can you do from the UK:

– sign the petition and write to ICE demanding Mapache is released, link with details here.

– follow Free Mapache social media page for updates

>>>> more info to follow

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Photo: Free Mapache