New York, United States
Honduran immigrant Javier Castell, a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Children in Arrivals (DACA) program, never imagined that crossing a street with a red light would put him on the road to deportation.
For 15 months this “dreamer”, his family and activists have been fighting to prevent him from being deported, but the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) insists on sending him back to his country of origin. when he was a child.
On December 14, 2019 Castle he was heading to his brother Jason’s birthday party in The Bronx, New York when he was arrested by police for crossing the street when the traffic light was red.
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Although New York was declared a sanctuary city in 2014, with the policy of non-cooperation with immigration authorities unless it is wanted for a felony, Castle was delivered to ICE CREAM and has since been in detention centers in New York, New Jersey and Louisiana, according to The New Yorker magazine.
And although the city itself has acknowledged in a letter that his arrest had been “a heinous mistake and a clear violation of local law,” and even called for his release, ICE CREAM he has remained relentless in his intention to deport, the magazine notes.
Deportation priority
the deportation from Castle was scheduled for last January, but should be a priority, according to the new rules of ICE CREAM.
According to the letter obtained by the magazine, the city’s Legal Department sent the letter to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Manhattan on February 3 acknowledging the “error.”
City officials equally acknowledge that after it was discovered that Castle had been transferred to the federal agency, an employee of the Department of Correction was suspended and then transferred to another unit.
Soul, the young man’s mother, who works as a secretary at the Metropolitan Hospital in Manhattan, arrived in the United States in 1997 under Temporary Protection Status (TPS) and in 2002 asked his relatives to send Javier. and his brother Jason, then 8 and 6 years old, respectively, and who made the journey across the southern border.
Her sister Dariela joined them a few months later while a fourth child stayed in Honduras.