He couldn’t get a green card yet. Asylum seekers can only apply for a green card once they’ve been granted asylum, he was still going through the court process for his asylum claim.
He wasn’t on a deportation list. He was staying with his cousin, and his cousin was undocumented. ICE showed up at the house looking for the cousin, and Eschavez answered the door. ICE sorted out very quickly that Eschavez wasn’t the guy they were looking for, but they noticed his tattoo on his arm and asked about it. The tattoo is in memory of Eschavez’s deceased sister, and is a tattoo of tree branches and his sister’s name. ICE said they wanted to take him in to ask some questions about the tattoo and that they’d bring him back home right after.
—He never came home, they sent him to prison in El Salvador.
They’re doing this shit all the time, man. Look at Chicago recently. There are immigrants in an anti-detention program called ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program). They have to follow a bunch of rules and have regular immigration check ins to avoid being detained. ICE sent a bullshit text message to a bunch of them to show up for a check-in, saying it would be a violation of the program if they didn’t show. When the people showed up, it was a trap and they were arrested and detained.
On June 4, ICE agents arrested a community organizer and mother, Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda along with at least nine others in Chicago’s South Loop. A petition urging her release has drawn over 10,000 signatures.
southsideweekly.com