Juan Diego
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Currently LIving In: New York
Kidnapped At Federal Plaza
On September 21, 2003 New Yorkers gathered at Federal Plaza to demand an end to the rapid-fire deportations that are destroying families. A catalyst for the event was the recent deportation of Juan Jimenez. Juan came to the US when he was 13, worked for UPS, and planned to join the US armed services next year. He visited Federal Plaza several times to complete his paperwork, get fingerprinted, and pass the test required for US citizenship. He received a letter to report again September 3rd, two days after his 19th birthday. He thought he was getting his naturalization certificate, but got shackled instead. The next day at sunrise, he called home from JFK to say, 'They're deporting me to the Dominican Republic.'
'They kidnapped Juan,' stated cousin Marianna Tapia, 'They threw him on a plane before we had time to find a lawyer, or even breathe. They treated him like he is a stranger to the U.S. But all of his family and friends are here today to tell the government: We want him back!' Among Juan's supporters is Dominican activist Ydanis Rodriguez, who led carloads of concerned citizens down to Federal Plaza and said, 'Our communities are facing a deportation crisis. But we will not accept the destruction of our homes at the hands of immigration authorities as a way of life in America.'
The Department of Homeland Security claims that the rapid-fire deportation is legal because Juan had an old deportation order. They charge that Juan was ordered deported when he was fourteen, even though he never saw an immigration judge or received notice of his deportation order. No agent informed him of the old orders during any of his prior trips to Federal Plaza. Subhash Kateel, organizer with anti-deportation group Families for Freedom (FFF), explained: 'Agents gave Juan every indication that their immigration applications for citizenship and a greencard, respectively, were valid. So the government may say that what they did is legal. But it's downright deceptive.' Others who are not being deported immediately are being shipped away as far as Louisiana without seeing a judge.
'The federal government is trying to rush through immigration laws that would make what happened to Juan the rule rather than the exception,' continued Kateel. 'Immigration status is becoming the basis for a new apartheid, where there are special punishments just for non-citizens.' In response to the flood of calls FFF has received about rapid-fire deportations and transfers, the group has prepared an advisory that helps people with old deportation orders or past criminal convictions protect themselves.
In New York City two thirds of the population are either immigrants or their children. Twenty-five percent of families are mixed-status in which at least one child is a citizen and one parent a non-citizen. Since Congress overhauled the immigration laws in 1996 over 1 million people have been deported. Attorney General Aschroft is leading a national 'crusade' to step up the enforcement of immigration laws. The New Yorkers who gathered at Federal Plaza exclaimed in response to this crusade, 'Let us live!'