Disabled DACA Recipient With No Criminal Record Reportedly Abused In ICE’s Detention Center

Despite President Donald Trump’s promises to not go after the young beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (at least until March), immigration agencies continue to persecute and detain its recipients.

This time the story making the headlines is that of 20-year-old Felipe Abonza-Lopez, a disabled undocumented immigrant that has been under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency custody for more than a month now.

Bonza-Lopez lawyers say that their client who has no criminal record was picked up by Customs and Border Protection agents on October 12, while riding in a car with other undocumented family members. CBP confirmed the arrest of the DACA recipient and said it was “in the course of a human smuggling investigation,” and that his “status will be reviewed at an immigration hearing,” according to a statement released by Border Chief Patrol Agent Felix Chavez.

The policy director of RAICES, Amy Fischer says that Abonza-Lopez has not been charged with anything because he was clearly not smuggling anybody. “If CBP is trying to criminalize DACA recipients with mixed status families for driving in a car with their undocumented family members, that is wholly unjust,” she said.

“We know that ICE will try to detain and deport people who have DACA so long as no one is paying attention to it,” Fischer continued saying. According to the statement released by CBP, the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office reported to them a suspicious vehicle on October 12, after they picked up its passengers, they were then transferred to ICE’s custody.

What is most troubling about Abonza-Lopez’s case is that he is being constantly abused over his prosthetic leg while being detained at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas. The ‘dreamer’ had his leg amputated when he was still a child and requires medical attention, but according to a letter he wrote on November 11, he received nothing but mockery from both medical and guard staff.

The guard said, “You can put a broomstick in his leg and he can use [it to] sweep,” Abonza-Lopez wrote in his letter. “Please get me out of here,” he continued writing. “I do not deserve to be treated so inhumanely.” The young man claims that he has desisted from seeking medical attention for his pain because of the staff’s mistreatment.

The DACA recipient who came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 5, also claims that he is afraid of going to sleep because the workers have threatened to take his leg away.

Article inspired by Huffington Post // Trump Administration Detaining DACA Recipient With Disability