Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took into account the political opinions of an undocumented activist that they targeted last year for removal from the United States.
Maru Mora Villalpando, a Washington-based Latinx community advocate, was placed into deportation proceedings in December. In an order kicking off that process, examining officer Timothy Black told agents: “It should also be noted that she has extensive involvement with anti-ICE protests.”
Black had highlighted an interview given by Villalpando, discussing her work and her status as an undocumented resident, according to documents published on Monday by the advocacy group Mijente.
“These documents show that ICE actions are a direct attack on our organizing and freedom of speech,” Villalpando said.
In response, Villalpando and Mijente filed Freedom of Information Act requests pressing ICE to reveal details about enforcement actions resulting from public statements and political activity, including “anti-ICE protests.”
“We demand to know how far this practice spreads and who else they are targeting for deportation,” she added.
Mijente said that the documents released Monday had been initially provided by ICE to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). They contain I-213 forms–documents filed by ICE agents to kick off deporting proceedings.
According to the interview cited in her I-213, Villalpando was born in Mexico and came to the United States in the 1990s.
“We also knew in Mexico that the same political party always wins, but in 1994 the presidential candidate was assassinated at a public event,” she said. “Now assassinations are happening all the time, especially to women.”
“I decided to leave for political reasons,” Villalpando added.
Shortly after President Trump took office–in part, on promises to aggressively crackdown on immigrant communities–there emerged a pattern of ICE targeting individuals and municipalities critical of US immigration enforcement.
In recent weeks, activists with the New Sanctuary Coalition in New York City have been detained by ICE agents for deportation proceedings. In response, they have filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to declare ICE targeting to be in violation of the First Amendment.
