WASHINGTON— Juan Manuel Montes, a 23-year-old DREAMer granted protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was deported this week, according to recent news reports. After a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer confronted him and he could not immediately show documentation of his DACA status and identification, Montes—who has lived in the U.S. since age nine—was deported to Mexico within three hours.
People For the American Way’s Director of Latinos Vote! Program and Manager of Political Campaigns Lizet Ocampo released the following statement:
“Deporting a protected DREAMer not only goes against promises that Trump himself has made, it is a devastating attack on immigrant families. Juan grew up here. This is his country. Uprooting him from the life he has known and tearing him away from his family is absolutely unconscionable.
“But the suffering of Juan and his community didn’t stop Rep. Steve King from celebrating the young man’s deportation with a glass of beer. This brand of callous disregard for the humanity of immigrants is sickening and downright cruel.”
People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.
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