Latino congresswoman in US says her immigrant husband at risk of deportation

By Islam Dogru

NEW YORK (AA) - A Latino congresswoman in the US has told local media outlets that her immigrant husband is at risk of deportation if necessary changes are not made in Congress as he does not have legal documents to stay in the country.

Delia Ramirez said on Sunday that in case necessary arrangements are not made under the Congress program “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)," her husband Boris Hernandez would face the risk of deportation from the US.

She said it will be her priority in Congress to arrange the legal situations of nearly 700,000 young Latinos that had been brought to the US illegally and who are covered under DACA, and added that it is a “very personal issue” for her.

Mentioning that she is the wife of a man who is also part of the program, and a daughter of a Guatemalan working-class, migrant family, Ramirez stressed that she knows every bit of fear that her family goes through every day.

“We have to put an end to this,” she stressed.

Ramirez, 39, also said that even her mother had passed the Mexico-Texas border through an illegal and dangerous journey while she was pregnant, adding that she was born in Chicago as an American citizen.

Noting that she is not “ashamed” of these facts as the situation is the same for most people in the country, she underlined that she hopes to create an exemplary case for them as well.

“Maybe not always in the Congress, but most people can contribute to the well-being of this country as children of migrants,” Ramirez noted, saying she also worked for different non-governmental organizations to help migrants and homeless people before she was elected a member of parliament.

Ramirez, the first female Latino member of parliament, entered the parliament from the state of Illinois after being elected from the northwest of Chicago in the Nov. 8, 2021 by-elections, receiving 66% of the votes.

Over 22 million people in the US are included in “mixed-status" families as at least one member of their families does not have legal documents, according to migrant-defender group fwd.us.

- DACA protects 700,000 immigrants from being deported

The DACA program in the US was introduced in 2012. It covers the work permits and regulation of the legal situation of around 700,000 young people of Latino origin, most of whom were brought to the country illegally.

Mexico is a transitory country for migrants moving from Central and South America to the US. Its geographical location has made Mexico a target for political pressure from Washington, and shaped how Mexican authorities deal with the migrants issue.

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 5% tariff on imported goods from Mexico, promising a gradual increase until the flow of undocumented immigrants stopped.

On June 18, 2018, the US Supreme Court, where the incident was moved, rejected the Trump administration's decision to end DACA by a vote of four to five and ruled on the continuation of the program.

The Texas Federal Court also ruled that the DACA program was invalid on July 17, 2022, and the current US President Joe Biden administration, in response, announced that a new law would be passed to legalize the program and find a permanent solution to this problem.

As a result, Mexico started detaining migrants and holding them within Mexican territory until a migration status resolution or deportation. But the policy endangers migrants, with organized crime a constant threat.

* Writing by Merve Berker in Ankara.