New Threat Of Deportation Raises Fear In North Carolina Immigrant Communities

After witnessing a murder, Wendy Miranda-Fernandez fled her native country, El Salvador, and was given asylum in Durham, North Carolina. Today, nine years later, the twenty-three-year-old is facing deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE), and the possibility of more violence upon her return to Central America.

As WFDD's David Ford reports, Wendy's story is becoming increasingly common. He spoke with Immigration Reporter Tina Vasquez of the online publication Rewire.

On Wendy Miranda-Fernandez's pending deportation:

Wendy's case to me is very sadly familiar in that I do this [immigration] writing every day, and I've encountered stories like hers. People like her are literally fleeing Central America for their lives, and young women like Wendy, who came to the United States when she was fourteen, are often escaping gender-based violence. Where she comes from in El Salvador, rape is a common tool that is used against women [and their family members] who experience threats from gangs, or who witness murders as Wendy did. So, I don't think that can be highlighted enough. The way that the United States has decided to handle this very vulnerable population of people is to either turn them away—often to their deaths—deport them, or to detain them in these prison-like settings. I just think that is averse to all of the good things that America says that it stands for in terms of immigration and being welcoming. I don't think Wendy's case is an example of how we should be treating asylum seekers. I think it illustrates how broken our immigration system is.

Her case also reminds me a lot of what we saw with Wildin [David Guillen] Acosta, who also graduated from the same High School that Wendy did, Riverside High School in Durham. They were both asylum-seeking teenagers from Central America. They were both escaping gang violence. They came here as unaccompanied minors. Wildin Acosta was detained [as part of] a series of nationwide raids under Obama, specifically targeting the Central American asylum-seeking youth who received their orders for removal because they kind of exhausted their legal avenues for remaining in the United States. So, under Obama, people like Wildin Acosta were targeted and now, under Trump, we're seeing a person like Wendy targeted.

On the immigration landscapes under Obama and Trump administrations:

It's not a popular or easy thing to say, but both Democrats and Republicans have been very bad about immigration policies. And so much of what we're seeing under the Trump administration was made possible by the Obama administration. Under Obama we saw huge increases to border security funding and how the border was militarized, and how many border patrol agents we now have. So much that we're seeing under Trump now was made possible by Obama, but I don't say that to belittle the environment that Trump has created which is inherently anti-immigrant. He has put executive orders in place that criminalize the undocumented population and simply make being in this country without authorization criminal, making everyone deportable. DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients, or Dreamers as they call them—young, undocumented people who are in college often—we're seeing them get deported. And so, it's hard to say, but I speak to undocumented people every day, and the fears being expressed to me are different than I have ever encountered before.

On fears within the undocumented immigrant community:

People are afraid to leave the house because many jurisdictions in North Carolina aren't vocally opening their doors as sanctuary cities. Even those that are open to those conversations, like Winston-Salem, aren't willing to stop doing things like conducting checkpoints—which seem really innocuous—you know, for DUIs and things like that. But, because of the way things are now under Trump, and how he relies on local law enforcement, going through a DUI checkpoint can lead to your deportation whether you are drunk or not. So, people have expressed to me that they're leaving their homes as little as possible. Mothers are afraid of taking their children to school in the morning. They're driving as little as possible because they're afraid of any interaction with law enforcement. Those weren't conversations that I was having under Obama.

On the effectiveness of sanctuary cities:

Sanctuary cities are very complicated. First of all, there's no uniform definition of what a “sanctuary city” is, or what it offers. Number two, often sanctuary cities are offering little more than statements of solidarity. So, there will be local officials that are talking about 'this is a safe place for immigrants,' but then, behind closed doors, in jails, sheriff offices, and police departments, they engage in immigration enforcement. So, whether or not these cities who are saying those things are actually putting policies in place that protect undocumented people—that actively and proactively protect them—and consider the immigration consequences of every interaction with law enforcement, that's a different story.

Wendy Miranda-Fernandez was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 22, 2017. As of Tuesday morning, she was still being detained in a Louisiana facility. Miranda-Fernandez had been scheduled for deportation on Friday, May 5, but after a community outcry, her deportation appears to have been delayed.