US Citizens Are Victims of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Campaign

In addition to the thousands of immigrants who have been victimized, detained, and deported by Trump's racist campaign, many US citizens have also been mistreated and victimized. Some recent cases include that of US citizen Andrea Velez from Southern California, who was detained and charged with obstructing a federal officer during a violent raid in the Los Angeles area. After her arrest, she was imprisoned for more than 24 hours without even having access to water. Velez is a young woman who works as a production coordinator at a shoe company in downtown Los Angeles. When a relative dropped her off at her workplace, she said the scene looked like a war zone because of the way the officers were attacking people.

Velez said someone grabbed her and threw her to the ground even though she was trying to tell them in English that she is a US citizen. Vélez said the officer, who was dressed as a civilian, did not listen when she told him she was a citizen and only told her she was interfering and that he was going to arrest her. When she asked the officer for his identification and asked if he had an arrest warrant, he replied that she did not need to know anything about that.

According to the arrest warrant they presented later, they said that the agent was legally arresting a man and that Velez intervened in an effort to prevent the arrest and hit the officer in the face. Velez said that none of this was true and only continued to insist that she was a US citizen.

After she was taken to the detention center in Los Angeles, Velez gave them her driver's license and social security card, continuing to claim that she was a U.S. citizen, but they locked her up anyway and she spent two days in the detention center without water for 24 hours. Velez is traumatized and still cannot return to her job.

Another recent case of abuse of a U.S. citizen is that of Job García, a young doctoral student at the university who is also a photographer. He said he was present recording as a journalist when immigration agents were conducting a raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles, arresting people for no reason. He was also accused of interfering with the raid, which the federal court ruled was illegal due to discrimination against Latinos, as people were arrested solely based on their Latino appearance.

He was detained for more than 24 hours even though he proved he was a citizen and had done nothing wrong. He has filed a lawsuit against immigration seeking $1 million in damages for his unjustified detention and imprisonment.

Another very unfair case is that of a 4-year-old boy receiving treatment for stage 4 kidney cancer who was deported even though he and his sister are Louisiana-born citizens.

The two minor citizens were deported to Honduras with their mother in April of this year. The boy is suffering the most because the deportation has affected the treatment he was receiving at the New Orleans hospital for the aggressive cancer he is suffering from. A lawsuit has also been filed against immigration for the physical harm that the unjust deportation has caused this citizen child.

These are some examples of what is happening as part of Trump's war against immigrants, which also affects citizens, especially Latinos.

Here in Michigan, we have already seen cases like that of Gilmar Ramos, a young war veteran who was arrested and detained by immigration solely because of his Latino origin. We must continue to document these cases and the general abuse against immigrants until the public demands an end to Trump's racist policies.

If you are a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident and have been mistreated and arrested by immigration officers here in Michigan, it is very important that you call us to document it and perhaps represent you in a lawsuit. If we do not make formal legal complaint, these abuses will continue.