From The Nation:
Erika Andiola works with the Arizona Dream Act Coalition and has been a visible immigrant rights advocate in one of the nation’s most anti-immigrant states. In a phone call today from an ICE office, Andiola explained that ICE agents arrived at her home and asked for her mother, Maria Arreola. When Arreola went to the door, agents handcuffed her in front of her daughter and teenage son. The agents then noticed her 35-year-old son, Heriberto Andiola Arreola, began to ask him questions and determined that he should be detained as well.
Andiola, who remarked that this was the first time she had to fight for her own mother, then reached out to her expansive network. Dream Activist, along with Presente.org and others helped publicize the detention of a prominent immigration activist’s family members, and urged people to sign petitions and make phone calls to stop the deportations they might face. Social media quickly spread the message through laptops and smart phones. Twelve hours later Andiola’s brother was released. A couple of hours after that, her mother was also set free. ICE denies the accusation that the detentions were retaliation for Andiola’s dedicated activism, but it’s likely that organized pressure led the agency to almost immediately release Andiola’s mother and brother.
Erika is not alone. Despite winning reelection on campaign promises of reforming the immigration system the Obama Administration’s record continues to be uninspiring,
Immigrant rights advocates have long awaited the elusive promise of comprehensive immigration reform. President Obama promised a major overhaul while campaigning 2008 and again in 2012. Yet while Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, issued prosecutorial discretion standards in 2011 and Obama issue issued a memo last year to grant temporary deferred action for undocumented students, more people have been deported under this administration than any other.
When will actual reform come?
Also see FDL’s interview with Presente.org Executive Director Arturo Carmona.





2 Comments


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It looks like the Obama Administration/FBI is trying to push her into killing herself, like it did to Aaron Schwartz and MLK.
Evil, retaliatory tactics. These actions tell us a lot about the country in which we now live. This is reminiscent of the tactics employed by those “evil” nations. As soon as a gulag can be constructed in the frozen north, we can be just like Russia, crushing any and all dissent. Isn’t it great to live in a “Free” country with a thriving democracy?