NY Times: “Gone are the Obama-era rules that required them to focus only on serious criminals.”

WASHINGTON – Today, DNC Chair Tom Perez launched a new initiative, Faces of Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan, to highlight the real stories of those impacted by the Trump administration’s new policy and expose their lies about only targeting violent criminals for deportation. The DNC is compiling a database of stories and will work to educate the public and reporters about who is actually being deported. 

“Donald Trump is lying. He claims he’s only targeting violent criminals when in reality his deportation force is arresting upstanding members of the community and breaking up families,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez.  “America is not safer when ICE agents pick up domestic abuse survivors or parents or small business owners.  That only sows fear in communities and makes us less safe by wasting valuable law enforcement resources that should be used catching actual criminals. 

“The Democratic National Committee will fight back by shining a spotlight on the real faces of those impacted by Donald Trump’s cruel mass deportations.  We will not allow this administration keep their stories in the dark.”

The DNC is launching a new video today and will be launching an email address for families to tell their stories in the coming days.

The Faces of Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan

         Texas 26 year old domestic abuse survivor and mother of two with a brain tumor: “Undocumented woman with a brain tumor locked up by ICE.” [Daily Beast, 2/22/17]

         Illinois resident Carlos Hernandez Pacheco:An Illinois restaurant manager, father, husband, and community activist who started a scholarship fund for athletes who excel academically and has hosted multiple events for first responders and people facing financial hardship and illnesses, came to the U.S. in 1997 in search of a job to send money home to his sick sister. He was not the original target of the ICE Agents, but was detained anyway after finding two decades old DUI arrests on his record. He had been trying to become a U.S. Citizen for nine years. [WSPD Paducah, KY, 2/20/17]

         California resident Manuel Mosqueda: Under Trump’s targeting of undocumented individuals, a 50-year-old painter in California, who was not the target of the raid but happened to cross its path, was arrested and jailed.  [Associated Press, 2/13/17]

         Arizona resident Guadalupe García de Rayos: Entered the U.S. at age 14 and is the mother of two U.S. Citizens, yet she was deported, even though she had previously been allowed to stay in the U.S. under conditions that she attend regular check-ins with ICEafter using a fake Social Security number so she could provide for her family. [The Guardian, 2/9/17]

         Virginia resident Oscar Ramirez: Ramirez and other Latino men were surrounded by a dozen ICE agents as they left the hypothermia shelter at Rising Hope Mission Church on Russell Road in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Virginia.[NBC 2 Washington, DC, 2/15/17]

         Entire Virginia Apartment: ICE agents “went to an apartment in Virginia looking for a wanted man and picked up everyone else in the apartment too, leaving behind only a woman with a baby in her arms.”[Associated Press, 2/13/17]

         Baltimore Barber and local business owner: ICE agents arrested a barber and a local business owner who, according to advocates, have no criminal records. [Washington Post, 2/16/17]

         Southern Californiaman with no criminal record: Agents knocked on a door looking for one man and arrested another who had no criminal record.[NBC San Diego, 2/10/17]

         LA man with no criminal record: Rocy Rios, grandmother and bride-to-be, opened the door for who she thought was the LAPD only to have five ICE agents storm her apartment and arrest her fiancé, who she states, “had no criminal record, no ticket and had never been arrested.” ICE agents admit they “were targeting someone else that morning,” but discovered that Rios’ fiancé is undocumented and made the arrest.[NBC Los Angeles, 2/16/17]

         Seattle resident Daniel Ramirez Medina:Father of 3-year-old son and DACA recipient was “arrested without cause” in Washington.[CNN, 2/17/17]

         30 Austin residents, some taken while at school: According to the Mexican Consulate in Austin, TX, ICE Agents detained 30 individuals, including some that were at or on their way to school. [KENS 5 San Antonio, 2/15/17]

         Father at home with his daughter: “In Chicago, a student called her high school teacher to tell him that ICE had raided her home the night before, arresting her father, an undocumented immigrant whose criminal record included only traffic violations…”  [Washington Post, 2/16/17]

        Denver resident Jeanette Vizguerra:Mother of four, who entered the U.S. in 1997 after her husband had been kidnapped three times in Mexico, has taken sanctuary in a Denver church while facing immediate detention and deportation. [CNN, 2/16/17]