Texas DACA Recipient with Disability is Inexplicably Being Held by ICE
A 20-year-old undocumented immigrant from San Marcos has been held in a Texas detention center for just over a month — despite having Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, a clean criminal record, and a painful handicap that's been ignored since entering the federal lockup.
It's yet another case that points to how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be quietly shifting its priorities under the Trump Administration — and contradicting current policy.
Felipe Abonza-Lopez was riding in a packed car near Uvalde on October 12 when a sheriff's deputy pulled up behind them. The sheriff's office had received a call that the car "looked suspicious," according to a Customs and Border Protection statement obtained by the Huffington Post. Abonza-Lopez, who has no criminal history, was promptly arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "human smuggling operation." The four other undocumented immigrants in the car, including two of Abonza-Lopez's cousins, were arrested under the same suspicion.
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Once at the Border Patrol facility, Abonza-Lopez was placed in short-term holding cell, often referred to as a "hielera" (Spanish for "icebox" or "freezer" ) by detainees for their extremely cold and uninhabitable conditions.
That's when the pain began. Abonza-Lopez's left leg was amputated when he was a child. It's been replaced with a prosthetic leg attached with metal screws that, when cold, shoots pain into the rest of his body. A few nights in the "hielera," and Abonza-Lopez was riddled with serious pain, according to Amy Fischer, the policy director of San Antonio-based immigrant rights organization RAICES, who's helping with his case.
Read more: https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/11/14/texas-daca-recipient-with-disability-is-inexplicably-being-held-by-ice
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