A mother of four who is living in the U.S. illegally but has been in Aurora since 1999 was taken into custody by federal immigration officials on Wednesday, her lawyer says, despite having complied with authorities for years.
Maria de Jesus Jimenez Sanchez, from Mexico, was checking in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when she was detained, according to her attorney, Jennifer Kain-Rios.
“She was complying with an order of supervision,” Kain-Rios said by phone on Thursday. “They did not give us a reason why they took her into custody. I think we gave them lots of reasons not to take her into custody.”
One of Jimenez Sanchez’s children is a teen girl with developmental disabilities.
Kain-Rios said the woman has complied for four years with an order of supervision in her immigration case and had her stays of removal renewed. Then the stay was abruptly denied last month, Kain-Rios says.
“Maria de Jesus complied with her check-in appointment (Wednesday), because she hoped that ICE would restrain itself, considering her good-faith efforts to comply with her order of supervision,” Kain Rios said in a written statement. “Maria de Jesus asked for the assistance of Rep. Mike Coffman and Sen. Michael Bennetap offices to obtain a meaningful explanation, but only received curt and opaque responses from ICE.”
Kain-Rios says she was told the stay was denied because of the changeover to President Donald Trump’s administration and it’s “new priorities.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a Denver Post request for comment on Thursday. Trump and his administration .The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the administration is quickly identifying ways to assemble the nationwide deportation force as he railed against the dangers posed by illegal immigration.
Jimenez Sanchez received a deportation order in 2001, but her lawyer says her only criminal record stems from a 2012 traffic stop when she was cited for driving without a license.
Following that ticket, she spent six months in immigration detention and was eventually granted a stay of removal, which was upheld until last month.
“Maria de Jesus has a 15-year-old daughter with a disability,” Kain-Rios said. “She has a critical meeting regarding her daughter’s education plan next week she needs to attend. Maria de Jesus’ three other children are 7, 8, and 19 years old. She wants to stay so she can continue to take care of her children.”