Guadalupe García De Rayos, who has lived in US undocumented since she was 14, targeted for deportation over non-violent felony due to Trump’s new policies

An Arizona woman who was in the US illegally but had been allowed to stay, on the condition that she check in annually with immigration officials, has been deported to Mexico after new policies put into effect by Donald Trump.

Guadalupe García de Rayos, a 36-year-old mother of two US citizens, was a non-violent felon who had for years complied with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) orders after being convicted of using a fake social security number to work.



But on Wednesday, when she went for her usual check-in, Ice agents took her into custody instead, separating her from her husband and children, who were waiting outside.

Under a new executive order that President Trump signed on 25 January, García de Rayos had become a priority for deportation. The order states that undocumented immigrants should be deported if they have been charged with any criminal offense. The president said the order was needed “to ensure the public safety of the American people”.

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By Wednesday night, more than 100 protesters gathered outside the Ice office in Phoenix and blocked several vans that were coming out. One of the vans was carrying García de Rayos.

One man tied himself to one of the van’s front wheels, and seven demonstrators were arrested by Phoenix police officers, who showed up in riot gear at about 10pm.

García de Rayos’s two children also tried to block the van carrying their mother.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protester locks himself to the van carrying Guadalupe García de Rayos outside the Ice facility in Phoenix. Photograph: Rob Schumacher/AP

On Thursday, after learning the news that she had been deported, her children broke down crying. Jacqueline García de Rayos, 14, described having to pack her mother’s luggage so she could send it to Mexico.

“I don’t think it’s fair that she was taken away from us,” Jacqueline said. “Her only crime was to work here so she could support us.

“She is a very kind person,” Jacqueline said. “She treats everyone like family. She hasn’t done anything to harm anyone.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jacqueline García de Rayos, Guadalupe’s daughter, speaks outside the Ice facility in Phoenix. Photograph: Griselda Nevarez/The Guardian

On Thursday, Ice said in a statement that her “immigration case underwent review at multiple levels of the immigration court system, including the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the judges held she did not have a legal basis to remain in the US. Ice will continue to focus on identifying and removing individuals with felony convictions who have final orders of removal issued by the nation’s immigration courts.”

García de Rayos had been living in the US as an undocumented immigrant since she was 14 years old. Her husband, Aaron Reyes, is also undocumented.



“This is our country, because this is where we’ve lived most of our lives,” Reyes said. “We went to school here. This is where we met and got married. This is where we formed our lives and this is where our children were born.”

Reyes said his family’s “nightmare” began in 2008 when his wife was arrested during a workplace raid ordered by then Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio at a water park in Mesa.

After spending six months in jail, she was released. She was allowed to stay in the country on the condition that she check in with Ice for a brief review of her case and to answer a few questions once a year. She never had a problem until now.

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After going into the Ice office in Phoenix as usual, her husband and children anxiously waited for her outside but she didn’t come out. Instead she was taken into custody and Ice agents began procedures to send her back to Mexico.

Ray Ybarra Maldonado, the immigration attorney representing García de Rayos, said his client was not deemed a priority for deportation under Obama because the administration’s focus was on deporting immigrants who were a threat to public safety, had ties to gangs or had committed serious felony offenses. García de Rayos didn’t fit those criteria, he said, which is why she was allowed to stay in the US.

“I think this is a direct result of the new executive orders by the Trump administration that are being put into action,” Maldonado said about García de Rayos’s deportation.



He also said the order “has nothing to do with public safety” and “has everything to do with separating families”.

“All because she was trying to work to support herself and her kids – which is the same thing any of us would’ve done if we were in her situation – she was criminalized, given a class 6 felony and now she finds herself on the other side of the border,” Maldonado said.

