Activists rally after arrests, deportations. But can the process really be stopped?

A spate of high-profile arrests of area residents facing deportation has triggered rallies, online petition drives, media coverage and public meetings for people wanting to learn more about immigration law.

People in the Kansas City area have spoken up recently against the deportation of several beloved members of their community, including Leticia Stegall, manager of the Blue Line hockey bar; Crecencio Mendez-Ramirez, described as a hard-working father of four; and Syed A. Jamal, a chemist from Lawrence.

But can activism stop a deportation?

“It used to,” said Shawn A. Neudauer, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. “Back in the last administration."

Policies under President Donald Trump’s administration have tightened. Immigration officers have been directed to arrest persons under administrative court orders to leave — orders that were issued years ago, in some cases.

ICE officers under Barack Obama’s presidency were authorized in 2012 to prioritize enforcement against unlawful immigrants who had committed serious crimes, and not focus on those who had families, good careers and no run-ins with police.

It’s called prosecutorial discretion, and immigration officers had been exercising it in varying degrees for decades.

So back then, citizen pressure in the form of a rally or petition drive might delay deportation for an undocumented person.

“But people got so many temporary stays, we’re now trying to catch up” with those offenders, Neudauer said. “We just follow a court order. If a court says you’ve got to go, then you’ve got to go.”

No matter the public outcry over a given case, immigration lawyers around the Kansas City area say people who have been served final orders of removal, if detained, will not likely be spared from ultimate deportation.

“It’s all bleak,” said lawyer Kevin Jamison. He is representing Stegall, the Mexican-born manager of the popular Blue Line hockey bar in Kansas City’s River Market.

After Stegall’s swift deportation last week — only four days between her arrest and being back with family in Mexico — her supporters rallied Monday at The Blue Line.

But Jamison said: “Once you’re out of the country, it’s almost impossible to bring you back” without staying for 10 years.

The lawyer said ICE officers at Kansas City International Airport ignored a U.S. District Court petition handed to them before they put Stegall on a plane to Mexico. A federal judge on Friday granted the petition that would have returned her to the Platte County Jail pending a hearing, but by then Stegall’s deportation was completed.

Every case is different. Yet at least two others, Jamal and Mendez-Ramirez, have grabbed local attention share a common thread with Stegall’s removal.

They involve breaking up well-regarded families with young U.S.-citizen children.

• Jamal was arrested in his front yard Jan. 24 while on his way to taking his daughter to school. The Bangladeshi arrived legally in the U.S. 31 years ago, was sole provider for his family and taught at several area colleges. ICE says he overstayed his student visa and an administrative immigration judge ordered his deportation in 2011.

Jamal was hours from being back in Bangladesh, via a flight to Hawaii, when the Board of Immigration Appeals told ICE to return him to the Platte County Jail pending further review of his case.

• Mendez-Ramirez is described on activist Facebook sites as “a hard-working father of four.” After 12 years living here, the Kansas Citian was detained Feb. 4 at the ICE office where he regularly checked in to update work permits.
  
  

Like Mendez-Ramirez, Jamal also was following rules to check in with ICE. Where their cases differ is that Mendez-Ramirez entered the U.S. illegally.

Both, however, had been ordered by an immigration judge to go home.

So legally, “both are looking pretty hopeless,” said immigration lawyer Angela J. Ferguson, speaking Saturday in Overland Park at a public forum on immigration law.

The event, attended by 150, was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. It drew many who had not thought much about immigration law until now, and they asked what they could do to keep good families from being broken apart.

The answer: A rally, petition drive or letter to your congressman might influence future laws and policies. But it may not help present families in immigration trouble.

“Congress has to fix this,” Ferguson said.

This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Activists rally after arrests, deportations. But can the process really be stopped?."