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Anahi Jaquez Estrada was detained for 18 months at an ICE facility before being deported on October 22, 2019 after having lived in the United States since age 3. She was her senior class president, an honors student and an insurance agent in her hometown Wiggins, Colorado. In 2018, a client filed a fraudulent insurance claim and Jaquez Estrada failed to verify a technicality before approving it. The claim was later withdrawn by the client. She was charged with insurance fraud, while the client walked free. A felony charge was plead down to a misdemeanor with probation. During her first probation visit, she was detained by ICE agents leaving behind her husband and 8-year-old daughter both United States citizens. From there, the family was thrust into a nightmare scenario for a seemingly normal American family. Estrada Perez said she was treated as though she had killed somebody for a simple misdemeanor. In ICE custody she said detainees were given fresh clothes every three days, a single bar of hotel style soap monthly, fresh linens maybe monthly and worked voluntary jobs for 30+ hours a week for a single dollar of pay. On the day of her October 22, 2019 deportation, her husband, Jose Trujillo Perez got word through friends that Anahi was being deported. He called the facility to find out where she would be going. He was told they would not tell him, so he began driving from eastern colorado to Juarez, Mexico in hopes that she would be there. Anahi was, in fact, taken to Juarez with no phone and $50. She knew the dangers of “murder city” and feared for her life as she was dropped off at 2am. Two men in the group suggested she stay with them as the streets of Juarez are lno place for a solo person let alone a woman. Jose, meanwhile, was frantically searching. At the border an agent had to wave a hand in front of his face to snap him out of his exhausted and racing mind. The agent was confused, but as soon as he mspoke the words, “mi esposa fue deportado,” the agent let him through immediately. They were reunited shortly after. Anahi has not seen her daughter in person since October 19, 2019, which was the first time she had been able to hug her in more than a year

A post shared by AAron Ontiveroz (@aaronontiveroz) on Nov 4, 2019 at 9:14am PST

Six Ways Immigration Reform Can “Make America Great”

The academic literature on the impact of immigration is clear: immigrants help — not harm — the U.S. economy as a whole and commit crimes at lower levels than do native-born Americans. But the impacts of immigration in communities across the country gets muddled; some Americans don’t see the positive benefits of immigration. While it’s accurate that more than half of America’s billion-dollar startups have an immigrant founder, the truth is that an economy is more than just the Fortune 500. 

The U.S. has just 5 percent of the world’s population; like a sports team, the U.S. must recruit talent from outside to promote its prosperity and maximize the contributions of all on the team, or the country. Immigrants continue to serve the American people well, despite the deep, structural flaws in a U.S. immigration system that hasn’t been modernized in decades. By fixing that system, we can leverage immigration policy even more effectively to directly aid Americans. 

Congress envisioned a white, Protestant and culturally homogeneous America when it declared in 1790 that only “free white persons, who have, or shall migrate into the United States” were eligible to become naturalized citizens. The calculus of racism underwent swift revision when waves of culturally diverse immigrants from the far corners of Europe changed the face of the country.

As the historian Matthew Frye Jacobson shows in his immigrant history “Whiteness of a Different Color,” the surge of newcomers engendered a national panic and led Americans to adopt a more restrictive, politicized view of how whiteness was to be allocated. Journalists, politicians, social scientists and immigration officials embraced the habit, separating ostensibly white Europeans into “races.” Some were designated “whiter” — and more worthy of citizenship — than others, while some were ranked as too close to blackness to be socially redeemable. The story of how Italian immigrants went from racialized pariah status in the 19th century to white Americans in good standing in the 20th offers a window onto the alchemy through which race is constructed in the United States, and how racial hierarchies can sometimes change.

Ajjawi wrote that he spent eight hours in Boston before he was required to leave. Upon arrival, Ajjawi faced questioning from immigration officials along with several other international students. While the other students were allowed to leave, Ajjawi alleges an immigration officer continued to question him about his religion and religious practices in Lebanon.

The same officer then asked him to unlock his phone and laptop, and left to search them for roughly five hours, Ajjawi alleges. After the search, the officer questioned him about his friends’ social media activity.

“When I asked every time to have my phone back so I could tell them about the situation, the officer refused and told me to sit back in position and not move at all,” he wrote. “After the 5 hours ended, she called me into a room , and she started screaming at me. She said that she found people posting political points of view that oppose the US on my friend(s) list.”

Ajjawi wrote that he told the officer he had not made any political posts and that he should not be held responsible for others’ posts.

“I responded that I have no business with such posts and that I didn't like, (s)hare or comment on them and told her that I shouldn't be held responsible for what others post,” he wrote. “I have no single post on my timeline discussing politics.”

The officer then canceled Ajjawi’s visa, informed him he would be deported, and allowed him a phone call to his parents.

PRESS RELEASE: NISKANEN APPLAUDS BIPARTISAN SENATE LETTER SUPPORTING REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. August 5, 2019 —In light of recent reports that the Trump administration is considering a fiscal year 2020 refugee ceiling of zero, the Niskanen Center applauds a bipartisan groupof senators for expressing concern and urging action. 

Today, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Coons (D-DE) spearheaded a letter signed by 18 senators from across the country. The letter, which is addressed to Secretaries Pompeo, Azar, and McAleenan, conveys dismay about the dangerous consequences of zero refugee admissions:

We urge you to increase the refugee resettlement cap and to admit as many refugees as possible within that cap… America has a responsibility to promote compassion and democracy around the world through assistance to vulnerable and displaced people. 

Since the inception of the refugee program, the U.S. has safely welcomed more than 3 million refugees to communities in all 50 states, resulting in positive economic and social impacts. Maintaining a robust refugee program is also a critical national security and foreign policy imperative.

“Resettling zero refugee next year would devastate the domestic and international refugee resettlement apparatus the U.S. has built over decades, and would jeopardize our own national security and ability to work with foreign governments,”said Kristie De Peña, Niskanen’s director of immigration & senior counsel. She continues, “zero admissions would not only be a catastrophic policy failure; it may potentially violate the law if implemented without proper consultation with Congress.”