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A little over a week ago, Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by ICE agents while going to what he thought was a naturalization interview. Lawyers say they're seeing more cases like these and are warning clients that showing up for routine court appointments could lead to detention. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Earlier this month, Jessica Rodriguez-Aguilar and her husband, Josue, showed up at an appointment with U.S. Immigration Services in Miami.
JESSICA RODRIGUEZ-AGUILAR: That felt like a relief because we had been waiting almost three years for this interview.
GARSD: Jessica Rodriguez is a U.S. citizen. She's been married for three years to Josue, who is originally from Honduras. He came to the U.S. when he was 14. Back then, he requested asylum from gang violence. That was denied, and he was given a deportation order, but it was never enforced. In the years that passed, the couple got married, had a child who is now 2 years old. She got a job as a receptionist at a law office. He manages a restaurant. They started a children's party rental business on the side. And Jessica filed what's known as a petition for an alien relative. That was the start of a process of getting Josue's legal status. And to do that, they had to prove they're a real family. So a few weeks ago, they went to their appointment to meet an immigration officer.
RODRIGUEZ-AGUILAR: He asked us where and how we had met and when and how my husband had proposed to me. He just gave me the paperwork, and he said your case has been approved - here are the copies.
GARSD: She was relieved. She was asked to wait outside with her son, but a few minutes later, she was shocked to hear her husband was being detained. His old deportation order was being enforced eight years later.
RODRIGUEZ-AGUILAR: And I had my baby with me, so I had to try to keep it together for him. But it was horrible.
GARSD: There are no hard numbers, but multiple immigration lawyers tell NPR they're seeing more and more of this, clients showing up to what they believe are routine immigration appointments and getting detained. Valerie Crespo is the attorney for the Rodriguez family.
VALERIE CRESPO: What has been happening recently is that every time that we go with a similar situation, the client gets detained. Every time.
GARSD: Historically, there's always been a possibility that an immigrant without legal status will get arrested at an appointment, but lawyers say it didn't happen often. Priority for detention and deportation was given to criminals and people deemed dangerous to their communities. But now the Trump administration has said deportations are a priority and that they will end what they call catch and release, the practice of not enforcing deportation orders. And with the president's promise to deport a historic number of people, detention has become the default. Attorney Crespo says it's put immigrants like Josue between a rock and a hard place.
CRESPO: Most of them have been here in the United States for so many years, have their family. And they need to decide on whether trying to stay together or comply with the law.
GARSD: At a recent hearing where another client failed to appear, the immigration judge told her this was the 15th no-show of the day. Meanwhile, Josue Rodriguez has been transferred to a detention facility in Texas. Crespo has requested a halt to the deportation proceedings. If he does get deported, she says, it could take him years to get back to his family.
CRESPO: And this is a person that has no criminal charges. This is a person married to a U.S. citizen with a U.S. citizen son. Like, his situation should provide him some hope.
GARSD: These days, Crespo is advising clients who have deportation orders to show up for their immigration appointments. It's the law. But she's also warning them, if you go, you may very well get detained.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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