How ICE deports refugees and migrants despite years of good conduct

Jose Trejo Lopez thought the migration cause had separated him from his member Josue truthful the serviceman could inquire much questions during a March check-in successful New York City.

Jose and Josue, 20 and 19 years aged astatine the time, had been to dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins successful the astir 10 years since they fled El Salvador arsenic children with their mother. The appointments often took each time and sometimes required missing schoolhouse and last exams. Jose felt embarrassed to archer his teachers and classmates wherever helium was going, but besides knew helium had to fulfil his migration obligations and support bully behaviour and his arrest-free record.

“You person to travel the law, due to the fact that erstwhile you travel the instrumentality things spell well, right?” Jose said.

That day, Jose heard the rattle of handcuffs. The serviceman told him not to marque a scene. As Josue turned and saw his older member restrained, a antithetic serviceman handcuffed him, too.

By the clip the brothers had walked into ICE’s tract bureau for their 8am appointment, astir 2 months into President Donald Trump’s 2nd administration, rumours were swirling that migration agents were detaining radical astatine regular migration check-ins. These appointments are typically for radical with pending migration cases who aren’t considered threats to the public.

Detaining radical astatine check-ins became portion of Trump’s effort to transportation retired wide deportations, 1 of his 2024 run promises. But the strategy contradicted Trump’s and his administration’s assurances that migration agents would prosecute “the worst of the worst ever first”.

“I’m talking about, successful particular, starting with the criminals. These are immoderate of the worst radical anyplace successful the world,” Trump said connected August 22, 2024.

On October 31, CBS News analogous Norah O’Donnell asked Trump astir his committedness “to deport the worst of the worst, convulsive criminals”. Trump answered: “That’s what we’re doing.”

Neither Jose nor Josue person been convicted of a crime. The aforesaid is existent of 73 percent of the much than 65,000 immigrants in ICE detention arsenic of November, a record fig of detainees. Nearly fractional of each immigrants successful ICE detention person neither a transgression condemnation nor pending transgression charges. Of the immigrants with transgression convictions, 5 percent person been convicted of convulsive transgression specified arsenic execution oregon rape, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian deliberation tank.

Despite what Trump said, immoderate of the astir high-profile moments during his administration’s wide deportation run did not pb to large-scale arrests of convulsive criminals.

In March, the Department of Homeland Security sent astir 250 Venezuelan men to a maximum information situation successful El Salvador. A ProPublica investigation aboriginal recovered that lone 32 of the men had US transgression convictions, astir for nonviolent offences specified arsenic retail theft oregon postulation violations.

In the archetypal fractional of a months-long Chicago migration crackdown dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz“, migration officers arrested 1,900 people, two-thirds of whom had nary transgression convictions oregon pending charges, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis.

When PolitiFact asked the White House whether its detention strategy was successful enactment with what Trump and officials person said publicly, spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “The Trump Administration’s apical migration enforcement precedence is arresting and removing the unsafe violent, amerciable transgression aliens that Joe Biden fto flood crossed our Southern Border – of which determination are many. Recent ICE arrests see transgression amerciable aliens who are rapists, pedophiles and murderers. But anyone who is illegally contiguous successful the country, and arsenic a effect breaking US laws, is eligible for deportation if they bash not instrumentality vantage of self-deportation opportunities.”

Jose and Josue were applying for ineligible status. They were not successful hiding and had spent years appearing earlier ICE officers and migration judges.

In May, Jose and Josue were deported to El Salvador, a state the remainder of their household had already fled.

“We followed the instrumentality and we were punished,” Jose said.

The brothers’ quest for ineligible residency

Fleeing threats of gang violence successful El Salvador, Jose and Josue arrived successful the US successful summertime 2016 astatine the ages of 11 and 10 with their mother, Alma Lopez Diaz.

US officials stopped the household astatine the confederate borderline and released them into the US portion they sought asylum. The household moved successful with the boys’ aunt successful Georgia.

The brothers enrolled successful schoolhouse and learned English by speechmaking books, utilizing language-learning apps and correcting themselves aft classmates teased them.

By 2020, judges had denied the family’s asylum lawsuit and appeals due to the fact that pack extortion is not mostly considered a crushed for asylum, said Ala Amoachi, who became the brothers’ migration lawyer successful 2024. Jose and Josue had received a deportation order.

Deportation orders are paused erstwhile radical record appeals. Jose and Josue were appealing until 2020, erstwhile their appeals ran out, but they continued to look astatine ICE check-ins. Amoachi said the authorities apt didn’t deport them during that clip due to the fact that they had nary transgression records and for humanitarian considerations “such arsenic household unity and the information that they person a younger member who’s a US national and who’s disabled”.

By 2025, erstwhile the brothers were detained, they had a viable pathway to obtaining ineligible status, based connected a process their lawyer started successful 2024.

We contacted DHS to inquire wherefore the brothers were detained and deported portion they had a pending migration lawsuit and received nary reply.

During his 2nd term, Trump has importantly curtailed ineligible pathways for immigrants. In January, he ended a Biden-era programme that fto radical docket migration appointments astatine the borderline and legally participate the US to question asylum. Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has stripped hundreds of thousands of radical of temporary ineligible protections that fto them unrecorded and enactment successful the US.

Jose continued to effort to physique what helium called his American dream, but his migration presumption presented obstacles to buying a car and getting a job.

In 2024, the brothers moved to Long Island, New York, wherever their mother’s long-distance spouse lived.

Amoachi initiated a process for them to use for Special Immigrant Juveniles Status, a extortion for young immigrants who were abused, abandoned oregon neglected by a parent. The brothers’ begetter had abandoned them, tribunal documents say. When approved, the status allows immigrants to yet use for imperishable residency. The brothers’ erstwhile lawyer successful Georgia had failed to archer them this presumption was an option, Amoachi said.

Under the Biden administration, immigrants granted Special Immigrant Juveniles presumption were protected from deportation. In June, the Trump medication ended the deportation extortion programme and began detaining and deporting people with Special Immigrant Juveniles status. Immigrant advocacy groups are suing the authorities implicit the changes.

A sudden, unexpected outcome

Jose’s imagination of starting caller successful New York was abbreviated lived.

At the March 14 appointment, an ICE serviceman asked whether the brothers were contesting their removal order, and erstwhile Jose handed implicit their paperwork, the serviceman said, “‘This doesn’t work’,” Jose recounted.

Within minutes, the brothers were successful handcuffs.

There’s nary information astir however galore radical person been arrested portion attending required ICE check-ins, but quality stories and societal media clips are rife with examples of immigrants being detained and separated from household members. Lawyers person warned clients astir the tactic. In San Diego, respective immigrants are suing the authorities pursuing their detention astatine check-ins.

Amoachi, who has worked arsenic an migration lawyer for 15 years, said earlier Trump’s 2nd term, she had ne'er seen a lawsuit similar Jose’s and Josue’s – young men with deportation orders but nary transgression convictions oregon pack affiliation and a pending exertion – extremity with detention.

About a week aft the brothers were detained, Trump’s borderline czar Tom Homan said the medication was prioritising criminals.

“We’re going to support targeting the worst of the worst, which we’ve been doing since Day One, and deporting from the United States,” Homan said connected March 23.

Leaving everything behind

Detention was the archetypal limb successful a two-month travel which would instrumentality the brothers backmost to El Salvador.

Hours aft the brothers were detained, migration officers shackled them and took them to a Buffalo, New York, detention centre.

In detention, Jose worked with a detained pastor to big play religion services. Josue took a occupation successful the room – cleaning dishes and helping service nutrient – earning $1 a day. He utilized the wealth to telephone his ma oregon bargain ramen, a delicacy successful detention. Josue besides taught English to chap detainees and served arsenic an unofficial translator for migration officers.

On March 26, a New York household tribunal justice ruled that Jose and Josue had been abandoned by their begetter and it was not successful their champion involvement to instrumentality to El Salvador. Even so, they remained detained.

In aboriginal May, officers called successful the brothers for processing, which would mean they’d either beryllium deported oregon released, Jose said. Fellow detainees rooted for them.

The result wasn’t arsenic hoped. The brothers were transported to Louisiana.

For respective days, Jose and Josue stayed successful holding cells dubbed “hieleras” – Spanish for “ice boxes” – with astir 100 radical successful each. On May 7, their mother’s birthday, an serviceman called the brothers’ names to committee a formation to El Salvador. Once connected the plane, Jose said an serviceman entered with a abstracted database of names for radical who could get disconnected the flight. That was Jose’s past hope. But the brothers’ names weren’t called.

“When the level took off, I knew I was leaving down my mum,” Jose said. “Literally everything was staying behind. Our dreams. Everything.”

Stuck successful limbo

Nine years aft fleeing their location country, Jose and Josue, present 21 and 20, landed successful El Salvador. They had nary passports; US migration authorities had taken them erstwhile they applied for asylum and ne'er returned them.

Authorities gave each member a portion of insubstantial with his sanction connected it arsenic a signifier of identification. When Jose and Josue arrived astatine an migration processing centre, they saw radical waiting for US deportees. No 1 was waiting for them.

“I looked astatine my member and said, ‘Now what? What bash we do?’” Jose said.

Their parent sent their grandmother’s puerility person to prime them up. For the archetypal fewer nights, the brothers couldn’t devour oregon sleep. They person since been diagnosed with PTSD and depression, Amoachi said.

A fewer weeks aft Jose and Josue arrived successful El Salvador, Josue’s precocious schoolhouse successful Georgia held its graduation ceremony. Rather than walking crossed the stage, helium watched from his telephone arsenic they announced his name, and helium cried successful Jose’s arms.

Seven months aft being deported, Jose and Josue yearn for the anticipation of reuniting with their families. Amoachi has filed respective appeals connected their behalf.

Jose said the brothers followed the conditions: Going to court, attending ICE check-ins, having bully motivation behaviour and nary transgression record.

“So what is the ineligible pathway?” Jose asked. “There isn’t one.”

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.