Blocking Deportation with Your Life: A Conversation with Arizona Activist Maria Castro Sarah Jaffe - Truthout
go to original February 14, 2017

Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, who had been deported, embraces her son, Angel, 16, who met her in Mexico after she was deported to Nogales (Caitlin O'Hara/The New York Times)

Since election night 2016, the streets of the US have rung with resistance. People all over the country have woken up with the conviction that they must do something to fight inequality in all its forms. But many are wondering what it is they can do. In this ongoing "Interviews for Resistance" series, experienced organizers, troublemakers and thinkers share their insights on what works, what doesn't, what has changed, and what is still the same.

Last week, on February 8, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos went to her yearly check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Phoenix, Arizona, something she has done every year since 2008, when she was arrested in a raid by notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio and convicted of using a fake Social Security number to work (and pay Social Security taxes that she would never be able to collect). This time, instead of being sent home to her family, she was loaded into a van and deported to Mexico, despite a group of her friends and family and supporters placing their bodies in the way of the van. Her 14-year-old daughter had to pack her things for her; she, along with her brother and father, would be staying behind.

Maria Castro - a community organizer for People United for Justice and a member of Puente Arizona - was one of the people putting her body on the line to try to prevent Garcia de Rayos's deportation. We asked her to talk about what will be necessary to prevent more families like Garcia de Rayos's from being split up.

Read the transcript at Truthout

Related: Mexican Immigrant 'Dreamer' in Seattle Sues US Over Arrest (Associated Press)

Related: Last Week’s Anti-ICE Protests May Signal That Immigration Activism Has Entered a New Era (Remezcla)

Related: Deported Arizona Mom's Lawyer: Trump Order 'Declaration of War' on Immigrants (CNN)

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