Nurse’s assistant detained by ICE despite being DACA recipient
RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (Border Report) — The wind whipped through the concertina wire and across ICE’s heavily secured El Valle Detention facility, where a mother of two with legal DACA status is among migrants being held inside.
Yenniffer England, 32, was arrested on the evening of Feb. 16, by Texas state troopers while driving her brother and a daughter to get tacos. She has been held for nearly three months and faces a final immigration hearing on Wednesday where a judge could order her deported back to Mexico.
“This is just tearing us apart. She’s like the glue that keeps our family together,” her brother Francisco De La Rosa told Border Report on Tuesday.
Beside him were England’s two daughters, ages 12 and 14, and supporters of La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) who came to show support for her release.
“We are here on behalf of La Union del Pueblo Entero demanding that Yenniffer England is in need of release,” LUPE Executive Director Tania Chavez Camacho said.
DACA, short for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that protects from deportation immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. It also allows them to work. DACA recipient must renew their status every two years.
On Tuesday, organizers waved red flags and photos of England, a nurse’s assistant who moved to New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist in hospitals there and contracted the disease herself.
“This is not a person who is a danger to our community or a flight risk and so going through this process where she thought everything was great because she has DACA status, which is still valid here in our country, and to be locked up is just something that is devastating for her,” her lawyer Carlos Garcia told Border Report.
Garcia visited with England for about 45 minutes on Tuesday. He said they were preparing her case.
“She is extremely scared. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen,” Garcia said.
He says she was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license, which he believes stems from an unpaid speeding ticket.
“That’s what she’s being charged with: Driving with a suspended driver’s license,” he said.
England is to have her final immigration hearing remotely on Wednesday from the El Valle Detention facility with an immigration judge in Houston. Garcia is arguing for the judge to rule for cancellation of removal, but the judge also could order England deported back to Mexico.
She was born in Tamaulipas, Mexico, but was brought to the United States at the age of 4. Garcia says this is the only life she’s known.
“She is a current DACA recipient, so that should protect her from deportation. That is the promise of DACA for the hundreds of thousands of people who have it,” LUPE Deputy Director Dani Marrero Hi said.
Texas state Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, came to Raymondville and tried to visit England on Tuesday, but he says he was not allowed in.
“These are our neighbors, these are our friends, these are people that contribute into the community. They are working and they have a job and doing everything that’s required and it’s very concerning and troubling that we’re tearing apart families and separating people that are following the law,” Martinez said.
De La Rosa says England is missing her girls and that she is the breadwinner for the family.
He is a student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He says everyone in the family relies on her.
“I have faith in what the lawyer is doing, and I’m trusting the process and hoping for nothing but the best because that’s all we can do at the moment,” he said.
Several healthcare workers have recently been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Rio Grande Valley, including a couple of doctors and a renowned interpreter.
“It shakes the trust of communities. It shakes the trust of people with law enforcement,” Martinez said.
“She doesn’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re trying to present the best case possible. But this is a difficult situation,” Garcia said.
Border Report reached out to ICE for a comment but has not heard back. This story will be updated if information is received.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
