Daniela Vargas—the DACA applicant who was arrested Wednesday after publicly speaking about her family’s deportation—is now going to be deported herself without a court hearing, according to her lawyer.
The 22-year-old, who emigrated into the US from Argentina when she was seven, had just recently reapplied for protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children, often referred to as “DREAMers.” Her previous status had expired in November, but because she had to save up for the $495 application fee, she didn’t get her new application in until February 10.
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ICE officials originally said Wednesday that Vargas would go through court proceedings to find out whether or not she could stay in the country. But then on Thursday, Abby Peterson, Vargas’s lawyer, said the ICE was instead going to deport her client immediately because she originally entered the country through a visa waiver program that doesn’t give its participants the right to a hearing unless they’re seeking asylum, according to the Huffington Post.
Peterson argues that Vargas should still get to see her day in court because her parents were the ones who had decided to bring her in under the visa waiver program.
“She was seven years old at the time,” Peterson said. “She didn’t waive those rights, her parents waived those rights. And now she’s an adult trying to assert her own rights.”
Vargas was picked up by ICE agents in Mississippi on Wednesday right after she appeared at a press conference and spoke publicly about her father and brother’s recent deportation. Her family members were detained on February 15 because they had overstayed their visas, and agents reportedly let Vargas go because she claimed she had DACA status, according to the Huffington Post.
President Trump has seemingly thawed on his views on DACA since taking office, after calling the Obama-era program “unconstitutional executive amnesty” on the campaign trail, the Washington Post reports. When asked about the program in an ABC interview in January, he responded, “They are here illegally. They shouldn’t be very worried. I do have a big heart. We’re going to take care of everybody. We’re going to have a very strong border.”
“I strongly feel that I belong here, and I strongly feel that I should be given a chance to be here and do something good and work in this economy,” Vargas said through her lawyer from her Louisiana detention facility. “I’ve even tried to join the military, and I can’t do that. But, I mean that’s not the point, the whole point is that I would do anything for this country.”
