Liliana Cruz Mendez's husband Rene weeps during a rally in her support

Despite ongoing pressure from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Rep. Don Beyer, and countless other leaders and advocates in the state, federal immigration officials have deported Liliana Cruz Mendez to El Salvador, nearly one month after the mom of two U.S. citizen children was arrested during her routine check-in with ICE:

Cruz Mendez’s husband, Rene Bermudez, said the family was shattered by the deportation. He sobbed as he recounted how their children, aged 10 and 4, wept when they heard Cruz Mendez was gone. “How can they take away their mother?” he said.

In 2013, Mendez was convicted of driving without a license (Virginia does not allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses in the first place). But because Donald Trump is redefining “criminal” in order to justify rounding up as many undocumented immigrants as possible, she was swept up by his deportation force despite having nothing else on her record.

Advocates rallied to her cause as Gov. McAuliffe, in a last-ditch effort, pardoned her conviction “in hopes that it would spare her from having to leave the country,” tweeting that “taking Liliana away from her kids and husband won’t make VA safer. Feds need to focus on public safety threats and real immigration ­reform.” Federal immigration thugs kicked her out anyway.