Scottsdale mom with DACA detained for 9 months, faces deportation

Laura Gómez | The Republic | azcentral.com

Update: An immigration judge on Aug. 6 delayed action in Mayra Roque's deportation case because of a technicality. Officials had not fingerprinted her or done a biometric screening as required. Her next immigration hearing date is Aug. 24.

Mayra Roque has been inside an immigration detention center 60 miles southeast of Phoenix since October.

She worries about her mom, who she said is being treated for breast cancer.

She longs for her baby, whom she has not held in nine months.

Roque, 23, awaits two separate court hearings, one before an immigration judge who will decide whether to deport her and another before a Maricopa County judge on a theft charge.

The criminal proceedings have barely begun, which could prolong her deportation case.

Roque shouldn't be in deportation proceedings — she has protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA, as it is commonly known, grants recipients a work permit and shields them from deportation.

Roque, who has lived in the U.S. since she was 2 years old, has not been convicted of a crime that would make her ineligible for the program. Her DACA status expires in March 2019.

MORE: What is DACA and who does it protect?

Still, she waits in immigration custody at the Eloy Detention Center.

Roque said she tries to stay strong. In an interview with The Arizona Republic inside the detention center, she clasped her hands and leaned forward.

"You guys can't feel what we feel, the walls are closing up on us," Roque said. She wore a pine green suit, faded by many washes. Her dark hair held back by thin braids. "Every day, the cells look smaller, and we can't push them."

Roque is scheduled to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court on the criminal charge Friday, but she'll miss that initial hearing because she’s held in immigration detention.

A final hearing date in her deportation case is scheduled for Monday.

azcentral Rewind: Trump's wind down of DACA President Donald Trump's administration announced the wind down of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, that President Obama enacted several years ago. This is what you should know. Sean Logan/The Republic

Wrongful cancellation of DACA

Salt River Reservation police arrested Roque for criminal theft at work on Oct. 11. She was a cashier at the Walmart on Pima and Chaparral roads, and allegedly stole $6,400 over the course of two months, according to the charging document.

That October morning was like any other, Roque said.

Maira, her mom, dropped her off at the Walmart, while her baby, Israel, sat in the back. When saying their goodbyes, Roque said she had an impulse to hug her mom a little longer than usual and to hold her son a bit tighter.

"I told them, 'I love you,'" Roque said. "I must've known."

Before going into work, Roque remembered her mother said, "When you get out of work, don't forget to get milk for your baby."

Nine months later, she hasn't forgotten and it haunts her, she said.

Roque was booked into Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue Jail, where she first encountered ICE officials.

A Superior Court judge released her the next morning, but Roque said she never walked free. ICE agents interviewed and fingerprinted her and took her into federal custody for deportation proceedings. She was told her DACA protection was cancelled.

Roque first applied for DACA in 2012, paid several hundred dollars in fees and underwent background checks. She has renewed it since. Those who have been convicted of felonies and certain misdemeanors are not eligible for the program.

But Roque hasn't been convicted.

She was just formally charged July 6.

It is unclear when her DACA was rescinded, but it likely happened shortly after her arrest.

Restoring her DACA status

Immigrant rights advocates nationally say DACA recipients are more vulnerable now to detention and scrutiny by Department of Homeland Security agencies than in the Obama years.

DACA, which does not offer a path to citizenship, was created in 2012 for certain young immigrants with no criminal background. Almost 820,000 people nationwide have benefited from it — 28,400 of them in Arizona, according to government data.

Last September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government will phase out the program and President Donald Trump pushed Congress to find a permanent solution for the protected group known as "dreamers." But challenges in courts have kept the program in place and allowed for new eligible applicants to solicit DACA.

MORE: House panel advances immigration changes, pushing back on Trump policies

Roque got her DACA status reinstated in April — six months into her detention at Eloy.

She was part of a class-action lawsuit which found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes and approves DACA, had unlawfully rescinded the work permits and deferred status of dreamers since January 2017.

Many lost their status after ICE initiated deportation proceedings for charges that were dropped or pending.

A federal district judge issued an injunction in February barring the practice of rescinding DACA without reason or time to respond, and ordered the restoration of protected status for Roque and others.

Roque was one of more than 450 DACA recipients nationally who had their deferred action reinstated as part of the Inland Empire v. Nielsen lawsuit, according to Katrina Eiland, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is litigating the case.

Eiland said while DACA hasn't been terminated, there is a targeted effort from federal agencies like ICE to cancel DACA on an individual basis.

"Even if someone hasn't been convicted of a disqualifying crime, they're trying as best they can to terminate that person's DACA. That puts you at risk, and makes you feel less protected.

"In our views, it's really unfair and it's totally arbitrary given that folks still have deferred action, they shouldn't be placed in (removal) proceedings," she said.

RELATED: Another federal judge rules against Trump move to end DACA

'Such a strange thing'

The first days she was held in immigration detention, Roque said all she could think about was the milk for her baby. She'd said she'd wake up thinking, "You need to take him his milk."

One day, she had a panic attack over it. She said she now sees a psychiatrist once a month at the detention center to help control her anxiety.

She's among many mothers inside the detention center, some who were forcibly separated from their children by the controversial zero-tolerance policy. They share a sense of anguish over their kids' well-being.

"I don't know if he's OK, if he's eating," Roque said. "It takes away every day from us, we don't want to keep going."

Instead of following a rigid routine at Eloy, Roque would much rather be out of detention washing her own clothes, cooking her own meals, raising her 2-year-old and caring for her mother in their Scottsdale home.

A rule that only allows for one bond hearing per immigration case has prevented Roque from paying to bond out of detention, said Stephanie Corcoran, Roque's immigration attorney. Her bond was denied once before Corcoran represented her, and an appeal to reconsider the bond hearing was denied in May.

"She has a valid DACA and she is able to work, pay taxes, but instead she's detained," Corcoran said. "Even though she doesn't have a conviction, the (immigration) judge has found she's a danger to the community. ... USCIS has her DACA reinstated. ... It's such a strange thing."

ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack declined to comment on Roque's case citing a "privacy policy" that prohibits the agency from releasing information.

Roque did not discuss the alleged theft with The Arizona Republic on advice from her lawyer.

It's been a hard several years for Roque. She said her dad died in 2014 after complications from surgery, and the weight of her family's well-being fell on her 19-year-old shoulders. She pushed through, found her passion for cooking and got a certificate in culinary arts from Scottsdale Community College.

She has not seen her mom in nine months. Only those with a valid government ID can visit the detention center, and her mom is undocumented. She hasn't seen or heard from her fiancé either. He's been in prison for almost two years for an armed robbery conviction.

Reach the reporter at laura.gomez@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Laura_GomezRod.

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