DREAMer Faces Deportation after Drug Allegations

An illegal immigrant who was once protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is now expected to be deported after being hit with alleged drug and trespassing charges.

Juan Manuel Martinez, 19, will soon become one of a few DACA recipients, often referred to as ‘DREAMers,’ who will be deported back to his native country after run-ins with the law, according to the Mercury News.

Earlier this year, Martinez was arrested for drug possession after Monterey County sheriff’s deputies found meth and marijuana in his vehicle. Martinez was also charged with trespassing, which he later pleaded no contest to.

Following Martinez’s arrest, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately flagged the DREAMer for being in the U.S. illegally. ICE asserts that Martinez’s tattoos tie the illegal immigrant to a local foreign criminal gang. Martinez’s mother and attorney refute that allegation.

Martinez is facing an immigration hearing this week, where he is expected to be deported from the U.S.

The potential deportation of Martinez by ICE shows a clear break from Obama-era immigration enforcement policies, where ICE only sought the detainment and deportation of illegal immigrants who had been convicted of crimes.

Under President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly, all illegal immigrants in the U.S. are eligible for deportation back to their native countries.

Most recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reiterated the Trump Administration’s policy on illegal immigrants, especially those charged with crimes who were once protected by DACA, as Breitbart Texas reported.

“Everybody in the country illegally is subject to being deported, so people come here and they stay here a few years and somehow they think they are not subject to being deported – well, they are,” Sessions said at the time.

Along with Martinez, 23-year-old Juan Manuel Montes, a DACA recipient, was deported by ICE after having four criminal convictions including one for shoplifting and three others for driving without a license.