Immigrant youth was released 3 days later after his lawyer told ICE agents he is elig

When federal immigration agents arrested Jefferson Taborda and his mother earlier this month, he discovered something he never knew: He is an undocumented immigrant.

Taborda, 23, grew up in Las Cruces. His family started a life there after leaving Colombia in 1998 to escape a violent period plagued with drug-related crime. But his mother never told her oldest son that they were living as undocumented immigrants and were therefore targets, especially under the Trump administration, which has made virtually all undocumented immigrants priorities for deportation.

He learned of his immigration status May 9, when agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested his mother, Francia Elena Benitez-Castaño, 54, on her way to work. About 10 minutes later, the agents also arrested Taborda on his way to drop off his girlfriend at Doña Ana Community College. Both mother and son had orders of deportation from 15 years ago.

While his mother is still being held at an ICE facility in El Paso awaiting deportation, Taborda was released three days later after his lawyer told ICE agents he is eligible for an Obama administration program that shields certain young immigrants from deportation. The program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was enacted in 2012, and has so far been left intact by President Donald Trump. Taborda applied in jail for the program, and if he is approved, he will get a two-year renewable work permit and a Social Security number.

Taborda’s case, while still unresolved, underscores the uneven rollout of Trump’s immigration crackdown, in which young immigrants in similar situations have been targeted for deportation, even when they supposedly have protection from deportation under DACA. In his case, Taborda has been afforded an unusual reprieve that other young immigrants have been denied under the current administration.
“Under this administration, the chances of being deported depend on which ICE agents arrest you or on what agent’s desk your case file lands on,” said Stephen Legomsky, a former immigration lawyer who helped craft DACA for the Obama administration.

Legomsky says that legally, Taborda could have been deported to Colombia because he didn’t have DACA protections at the time of his arrest. Under the Obama administration, he said, ICE agents would have released immigrants like Taborda if they qualified for DACA. To qualify for the program, a young immigrant must have been under the age of 16 when he or she was brought to the country and must have no serious criminal history, among other requirements.

But since Trump has made deporting most of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States a priority, it’s become unclear if ICE agents are specifically targeting young immigrants eligible for DACA.

A regional spokeswoman for ICE didn’t respond to emails from The New Mexican seeking comment.
In February, immigration officers deported Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, a beneficiary of DACA, to Mexico from California. Officials with the Trump administration initially said Montes was deported because his DACA protections had expired, but they retracted that comment when it came to light that his deferred action status was valid through 2018. Montes’ lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that deported him.

According to activists, Montes’ incident is the first publicly known case of a DACA recipient with no violent criminal history being deported under the Trump and Obama administrations.

Also in February, ICE agents arrested Daniel Ramirez Medina, 23, another DACA beneficiary, at his Seattle home, along with his father, who had an order of deportation. ICE had said Medina was arrested because of a tattoo representing a gang affiliation, something that would disqualify an immigrant from DACA. His lawyer, however, has said ICE agents pressured him to falsely admit he was part of a gang. He since has been released from ICE custody, and his immigration case is pending in federal court.

United We Dream, a national advocacy group made up of young immigrants, many of whom are part of the DACA program, estimates there are 10 DACA recipients in federal custody. There are more than 750,000 DACA recipients nationwide, and nearly 7,000 in New Mexico.
Taborda, who believed he was living in the United States legally, never knew he needed to apply for deferred action. He is not alone.

Even in a time when immigration has been a hotly contested issue, some young immigrants are unaware of their status because their parents haven’t told them.
Taborda said his mother kept his residency status a secret, never warning him that he could be deported. He didn’t think to ask if he had legal residency because he was able to obtain a New Mexico driver’s license and attended college on a state-funded scholarship. Any student who graduates from a high school in the state, regardless of residency status, can apply for a Legislative Lottery Scholarship, which covers most of the tuition at a New Mexico college or university.

And in New Mexico, a state friendlier to undocumented immigrants than its surrounding neighbors, undocumented immigrants for years could obtain a regular, state-issued driver’s license. That changed in November when a new law took effect to bring the state into compliance with the federal Real ID Act. Now, undocumented immigrants can obtain driver authorization cards, but only legal residents can receive the Real ID-compliant licenses.

When Taborda was arrested, he asked the ICE agent why he was being apprehended, insisting that he was a legal resident.
“I was shocked, and I was just wondering why I was being detained,” Taborda said. “He just said, ‘Come with us, and we’ll speak about the matter.’ And I thought there’s no use in resisting, so I just went with them to get it over with.”

Taborda was brought to Miami by his parents in 1998. The family, who came to the U.S. on legal visas, moved to El Paso shortly after they arrived to stay with a friend and then moved to Las Cruces, all within months. They applied for asylum, but their case was denied in 2002, the year Taborda’s brother was born. Steven Taborda, now 15, is a U.S. citizen.

Eventually, however, the other family members’ visas expired.
Taborda and his brother grew up in Las Cruces, where Taborda attended high school and graduated from New Mexico State University in December 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
He never questioned his mother about their immigration status, he said, because he would watch her file her annual income tax returns, and she had a pile of legal documents. She told him the documents were related to her application for U.S. citizenship.

“My mom speaks and writes in English, so everything felt like I was an American,” he said.
His father also had a role in his life as he was growing up, Taborda said, but he declined to discuss his father further or comment on the man’s whereabouts.

He said his mother kept up the guise of his legal residency by convincing Taborda to apply for colleges in New Mexico, where tuition was affordable and they could pay out of pocket, rather than applying for federal college loans, a process that requires students to be legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens.
Taborda had hoped to become an FBI agent, a dream that was dashed after he found out he’s an undocumented immigrant.

Even as his mother kept it a secret from her sons that she was an undocumented immigrant, Taborda said, she created a contingency plan for his younger brother. She obtained a power-of-attorney document giving temporary custody of Steven to a longtime family friend if she were arrested or deported, Taborda said.
Steven is staying with the friend now, he added.

Taborda learned of this plan only recently, after his and mother’s arrests. He doesn’t know when his mother made the arrangements.
He doesn’t blame his mother for not disclosing his immigration status, Taborda said, because he understands she was trying to protect him.
“I don’t know the reasons why she didn’t tell us about our situation,” he said. “But I know she did the best for us.”

Johana Bencomo, an organizer with New Mexico Comunidades en Acción y de Fé, which has rallied in Las Cruces to bring awareness to the family’s case, said Taborda’s mother could learn Tuesday whether she will be deported. That same day, the community will gather for a rally at Our Lady of Health Church. A smiliar event was held at the church earlier this month.

Taborda said he has spoken with his mother and told her not to worry.
What pains him the most, he said, is how the situation has affected his little brother.
“I’m old enough to deal with this,” he said. “But I’m mostly worried about my little brother. It really hurt him. He’s pretty sad. He’s the citizen, and I tell him if he continues to get good grades, he can get a scholarship, go to college, get a job — and he could go visit her whenever he wants.”


http://www.santafenewmexican.com/new...08d5b033e.html

So he never knew he was undocumented and he has never applied for DACA.. What's the story here? And how did he even graduated from college not knowing all that...

I'm going to go ahead and call BS on this. He knew.

Yeah I wonder how do you even go 33 years without knowing. Like I know of people that found out the moment it came to apply for a job or at the DMV and realized they have nothing acceptable to show.

33 years and you're telling me the guy never filled out an I-9 or got an ID?

I thought it said he was 23?

"graduated from New Mexico State University in December 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice."

"the agents also arrested Taborda on his way to drop off his girlfriend at Doña Ana Community College."

"When Taborda was arrested, he asked the ICE agent why he was being apprehended, insisting that he was a legal resident."

How? ! Don't mean to make fun of the guy, but isn't this similar to when a mechanic's car breaks down? He obviously knew. Regardless, I hope the guy gets his application accepted.

Good news ice lets them go even without DACA.

Whoops misread that part. Still the rest still stands.

Yeah still... This thing of ours affects every aspect of our life from a very young age - school registration, driver's license, work, travel, etc. Even the world's biggest momma's boy would ask questions now and then.

Hey parents keep thing from us kids who came undocumented, my sister used to go to Mexico when they were younger and I'm just 1 year younger than one of my sisters and they said i couldn't go cuz i was small..

yet to know when I was 13 years old my parents told me I was undocumented

but going all this time who knows what his story is with his parents and why they didn't tell him

in my case when they told me i was undocumented I was like OK i guess don't have a choice here since i was 13 and just knew many things would be difficult for me when I would want to work after high school