If Juan Carlos Vera had not come out as a person in deportation proceedings, today he would be living in Mexico. Although Vera is not queer, his story is relevant because it was the strategies developed by LGBT immigrant youth that were able to get him out.
Vera, 25, has lived in Chicago most of his life, and in March found himself inside a detention center just outside of Woodstock, Ill. He was in detention because, on what he thought was his first day of work, the human resource person at a local factory was actually setting him up to be turned over to the police department, for allegedly using false documents. When the police suspected he was also an undocumented immigrant, he was placed in immigration detention and in deportation proceedings.
Vera's case is not unique. Going by last year's numbers, President Obama's administration deports more than 1,100 people every day, for a total, record-breaking 409,000 according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to the President's own policies, the people placed in deportation are only those who fall within the set priorities. As outlined by DHS, the three top priority categories are: "criminal aliens," "egregious immigration violators," and "recent border crossers." By keeping people who fall within these out of the country, we are supposed to be both safe and content with the knowledge that 'good' people are not being deported.
Yet in immigrant communities, the stories of family separation are heard every day, and their stories are much more complicated than the categories allow.
For example, a "criminal alien" could be someone with one Driving Under the Influence charge, a solicitation charge, or three misdemeanors of any kind. An "immigration violator" is someone who has been deported in the past and come back, for example, to be with their children; or anyone who has been stopped by immigration enforcement at the border.
I have heard each of these stories in the span of a month. And although each one of us holds the decisions we make each day, for undocumented immigrants, the consequences are systematically and legally disproportional from the action. I wonder how many of my readers, for example, have not driven home after a night of drinking out at the bar, or taken actions that are technically against the law, either to eat or just survive. But unless you are also undocumented or a permanent legal resident, you didn't get deported from your country.
As a response, in 2009 groups of undocumented young people around the country began to organize against deportations, by creative, aggressive and technologically savvy campaigns for individual cases.
Nationally, Prerna Lal and Mohammad Abdolahi, two LGBT undocumented youth, co-founded DreamActivist, a national organization arguably running some of the most successful campaigns against deportations of hundreds of individuals. In Chicago, we had our own version with the organization co-founded by local queer organizer Reyna Wences, an undocumented ally Rigo Padilla, and myself. The Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) was created precisely out of the need to stop Padilla's deportation, and has since helped get dozens of undocumented people out of detention.
The strategies that have stopped these deportations here in Illinois and around the country are based on the idea that it makes a difference when people tell their own stories, it matters when people are out, and it matters when communities listen and respond. Once individuals and their families decide to make their case public, and come out as people facing deportation, community members mobilize to bring attention to the case from the media, legislators, and DHS.
For Vera's case, advocates were able to get the support of federal elected officials and community organizations, sent more than 800 emails to immigration, and made dozens of calls asking for his release from detention.
Although there is no guarantee, each time we have learned that when DHS knows that the public is paying attention, and there is public pressure, they cave. And even if it is because they just don't want to look bad, these campaigns result in people getting out of detention and in their deportations being stopped.
As there are national conversations about immigration reform, we have yet to deal with the question of what happens with the people who will continue to be deported. The Obama administration promises that the numbers will remain in the hundreds of thousands.
For me, it is in this context that fighting these public cases becomes that much more relevant. You see, although we are only stopping that one deportation, we are creating strong communities that understand that we must come out in order to break down the myths and distortions. If you are undocumented, or in deportation proceedings, come out. If you are not, this is your turn to listen, and take action.
