Bye, Felicia: Illegal Alien "Immigrant Rights" Activist to be Deported

[bill_daniels]

Undocumented immigrant rights activist loses her battle to avoid being deported

By Michael E. Miller January 24 at 10:10 PM

An immigration rights activist whose own undocumented status was exposed by a drunken-driving arrest has lost her six-month legal battle to remain in the country.

Wendy Uruchi Contreras, a Virginia organizer for the immigrant rights group CASA, is scheduled to be deported to Spain this week after last-ditch appeals were denied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to her husband, Giovani Jimenez.

“We are devastated,” said Jimenez, who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., with their American-born children, Alex, 13, and Lucia, 7. “My children are crying, but we know there’s nothing more we can do.”

[She fought to keep immigrants from being deported. Now she faces the same fate]

Jimenez said he learned of the decision last week, days before the inauguration of President Trump.

ICE officials did not return a request for comment on the case. Uruchi, a 33-year-old Spanish citizen born in Bolivia, had been held in federal custody since July, when she pleaded guilty to drunken driving.

In her appeal, Uruchi asked prosecutors to show discretion in her case, essentially weighing her community activism and otherwise clean record against the danger of her committing another offense.

Under Obama administration guidelines, however, immigrants convicted of DUIs are a priority for deportation. Her appeal was denied.

“They focused on one thing, that she got that DUI, and it was like they forgot about everything on the other side of the scale,” said Enid Gonzalez, Uruchi’s immigration attorney.

Now that Trump is president, the outlook for successful deportation appeals is even bleaker, Gonzalez said.

[‘I don’t feel safe’: Undocumented immigrants fear a Trump’ presidency]

As a candidate, Trump promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico and deport far more of the country’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, especially those with criminal records.

“Since 2013 alone, the Obama administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into United States communities,” he said during an immigration speech in Phoenix. “These are individuals encountered or identified by ICE, but who were not detained or processed for deportation because it wouldn’t have been politically correct.”

But Kim Propeack, communications director for CASA, saw it differently.

“Wendy’s situation illustrates our failure as a country in not creating an immigration system based on family unity and the best interests of children,” said Propeack, who helped Uruchi with her appeal.

“Wendy will contribute to society wherever she is,” Propeack added. “Her deportation is a loss to us.”

Uruchi came to the United States from Spain in 2002 under the United States’ visa waiver program, which allows visitors from 38 countries to stay for up to 90 days without a visa.

She and Jimenez had chatted online, but only saw each other for the first time when he picked her up at Dulles International Airport. At the end of her three months, Uruchi decided to stay illegally in America with Jimenez rather than return to Madrid, where she feared an abusive stepfather.

Giovani Jimenez, right, brushes his daughter Lucia's hair, center, as son Alex waits for them to leave to visit Uruchi at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail in September. She is being deported this week. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

She and Jimenez, who is also undocumented, got married, had two kids and settled in Virginia. He worked as a trucker; she cleaned hotel rooms. She began volunteering with Casa in 2013 and was hired full time as a Virginia community organizer the following year.

Even as she helped undocumented immigrants fight deportation, Uruchi managed to hide her own status.

Friends and co-workers were stunned when, after pleading guilty to a May 28 DUI charge in Stafford County, Uruchi was transferred to ICE custody and told she would be deported.

Because she had entered under the visa waiver program, Uruchi was not entitled to a hearing with an immigration judge. Instead, her fate lay in the hands of ICE officials.

Gonzalez prepared a motion for stay of deportation, arguing that sending Uruchi to Spain would be a blow to her two children. Alex needed his mother’s help to deal with Asperger’s syndrome. Lucia woke up in the middle of the night crying for her mom.

On Halloween, a month after The Washington Post reported on Uruchi’s case, ICE officials rejected her motion for a stay of deportation.

[‘I beg them to release her’: A plea for mercy for an undocumented immigrant]

Uruchi’s appeal was denied on Nov. 14. A week later, CASA held a protest outside of ICE headquarters in the District, and Jimenez publicly begged immigration officials to reunite his family in time for Christmas.

Giovani Jimenez, top center, wipes a tear while surrounded by his son, Alex, 13, left, and daughter, Lucia, 7, at a CASA rally outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

“My wife is not a criminal,” said Jimenez, calling his wife’s arrest “something that can happen to anybody.” Uh, clue phone, Senor Jimenez....it's for you.


Last week, officials told Jimenez that his wife would be imminently deported, he said. On Sunday, he and the kids went to see her one last time at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail in Williamsburg.

Uruchi, usually the defiant activist, broke down.

“She began to cry,” Jimenez said. “She said she was very sorry, but that soon we would all be together.”

Jimenez said he and the kids would stay in the United States until at least the end of the school year. He held out hope that his wife somehow would be allowed to return quickly. If not, he said, then he, Alex and Lucia would move to Madrid this summer.

“We would have no jobs, no place to live. My kids would have to learn Spanish,” he said. “We would have to start from zero.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...b5cad#comments

[Fasglas]

Law is law.

Time to go.

[RedLS1GTO]

An immigration rights activist whose own undocumented status was exposed by a drunken-driving arrest has lost her six-month legal battle to remain in the country.

...she pleaded guilty to drunken driving.

..otherwise clean record.

“My wife is not a criminal,” said Jimenez, calling his wife’s arrest “something that can happen to anybody.”

Boo-F**KING-hoo.

You would think that if getting a DUI meant that you would be deported and lose everything you would perhaps take the necessary steps to make sure that you didn't get a DUI by... you know... not driving drunk.

“Wendy will contribute to society wherever she is,” Propeack added.

...she cleaned hotel rooms.

You're going to have to define "contribute".

[Iron Chef]

They can't even cry about Trump this time. All this happened during the Obama administration.

I have a feeling life is going to get really bad for all these damn squatters (and no...I really don't give a shit about what would happen if all the foodservice workers left the country).

[Broken Wind]

Same advice I gave Obama. Just pack your sht and GTFO.

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Mexican Word of the Day: Hide Chico!!

[Aerovette]

[‘I don’t feel safe’: Undocumented immigrants fear a Trump’ presidency]

They damn well shouldn't feel safe. Skirting the law is not meant to be "safe". Hiding in another country is not mean to be "safe".

Zero pity. If her family is so concerned about being separated, send them packing too for "aiding and abetting".

[Iron Chef]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Self service plus minimal staff to make the food.

Well there's that, but my point is that while a lot of immigrants do many of the jobs that "we gringos" don't care to do, the liberal left would make you think that if all these workers suddenly left the country, we'd somehow implode as a society. There would be growing pains and some inconvenience for sure, but eventually they would be replaced and life would go on just as good, if not better, than it is now.
　
We as a nation have done so many things that other nations cannot even conceive: We've landed people on the moon, won two world wars, and become a country that everyone wants to come to, not leave from. I'm sure that we can figure out a way to chop our own vegetables for a salad at Chili's.

[Fasglas]

Originally Posted by Iron Chef

Well there's that, but my point is that while a lot of immigrants do many of the jobs that "we gringos" don't care to do, the liberal left would make you think that if all these workers suddenly left the country, we'd somehow implode as a society. There would be growing pains and some inconvenience for sure, but eventually they would be replaced and life would go on just as good, if not better, than it is now.
　
We as a nation have done so many things that other nations cannot even conceive: We've landed people on the moon, won two world wars, and become a country that everyone wants to come to, not leave from. I'm sure that we can figure out a way to chop our own vegetables for a salad at Chili's.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Iron Chef

Well there's that, but my point is that while a lot of immigrants do many of the jobs that "we gringos" don't care to do, the liberal left would make you think that if all these workers suddenly left the country, we'd somehow implode as a society. There would be growing pains and some inconvenience for sure, but eventually they would be replaced and life would go on just as good, if not better, than it is now.
　
We as a nation have done so many things that other nations cannot even conceive: We've landed people on the moon, won two world wars, and become a country that everyone wants to come to, not leave from. I'm sure that we can figure out a way to chop our own vegetables for a salad at Chili's.

You mean like when I was growing up? I didn't demand the equivalent of $15 a hour when I changed tires. I worked hard in vo tech school and learned to be a machinist.

Low paying jobs are a stepping stone and an incentive to improve YOUR life by YOUR actions.

[Iron Chef]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

You mean like when I was growing up? I didn't demand the equivalent of $15 a hour when I changed tires. I worked hard in vo tech school and learned to be a machinist.

Low paying jobs are a stepping stone and an incentive to improve YOUR life by YOUR actions.

Exactly.

I don't get these people who think they should be paid $15 an hour for handing you a bag of French Fries.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Iron Chef

Exactly.

I don't get these people who think they should be paid $15 an hour for handing you a bag of French Fries.

Like nobody could see this coming..............Even though this one is a kind of marketing gimmick, the writing is on the wall for all to see
McDonald?s launches dispenser that spits out Big Macs; check out burger ATMs | BizPac Review


A Boston McDonald’s is set to launch a machine that dispenses the fast-food chain’s trademark sandwich, the Big Mac.
The automated cheeseburger machine will offer three different sizes: traditional, the Mac Jr. and the Grand Mac, according to Metro Boston. The sandwiches are expected to be free of charge and available for a short time period
People in the area can obtain the stacked sandwich without conversing with any humans, which seems to be part of a trend for casual restaurants.

Wendy’s, another popular fast-food establishment, announced plans in May to start installing self-serving kiosks at some of its over 6,000 locations later in the year. The chain is replacing cashiers and other low-skilled jobs with computers and automated machines because, as Wendy’s president Todd Penegor told Investor’s Business Daily, it has to compensate for wage hikes.

McDonald’s Europe president Steve Easterbrook announced in 2011 that the fast-food restaurant was planning on “hiring” 7,000 touch-screen cashiers to be installed across the continent, according to CNET and the Financial Times. Easterbrook said it would make transactions more efficient — namely lowering the average interaction three to four seconds each.

“You don’t need to communicate with staff and it would be much quicker,” said Weiky Filho, a student enjoying a burger at McDonald’s in London, according to the Financial Times.

[Fasglas]

WaWa stores on the East Coast have had touch pads for years. Seem to work well, IMO.

Not surprised if McD, BK, etc., paid close attention how they worked out.

$15 hr. Just moved the eventual changeover much closer.