DACA recipient targeted by immigration officials

After 25 years in the US with protected legal status, a DACA recipient was racially profiled by immigration officials in Yuma and detained in Florence.

Jose Valdovinos was driving with his wife, Jitzell Flores, on Aug. 10 to visit his mother at her home in Yuma when immigration officials pulled them over and inquired about the couple’s citizenship status.

Although Flores was driving, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers approached the passenger side, where Valdovinos–who is visibly Latino–was sitting, according to Flores.

When Flores informed the officer she was a US citizen, and Valdovinos is legally here on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), the officer informed the couple that DACA was “no longer,” considered a legal form of status, Flores said.

To Flores, the traffic stop appeared to be racial profiling. She said she has a perfect driving record and believes there was no reason for the stop.

The couple had never had any prior run-ins with law enforcement either. Two weeks earlier, at a checkpoint on their way to San Diego, they provided officers with Valdovinos’ paperwork without any issue.

But on Sunday, the couple was pulled over for “driving in a suspicious manner,” according to a statement provided by CBP to The Copper Courier, after leaving a Circle-K gas station.

“My husband’s brown. According to them, he looks suspicious. What gives them the right to racially profile us, to pull us over?” said Flores. “They said that it was suspicious activity– we were at a light, We weren’t even driving for two minutes when they pulled us over.”

Out of fear, Flores called her sister-in-law, Stella Valdovinos, who arrived at the traffic stop within a few minutes alongside other family members. They began recording the interaction with the officers to document the incident.

Valdovinos was promptly arrested and taken into custody. Later, Flores was told that Valdovinos was detained because of the family member’s presence, not due to his DACA status. 

She said that while they are used to the presence of immigration officials living in a border town, this year, the presence has grown dramatically. Despite this, the family believed they had no reason to worry because of past comments from President Donald Trump indicating DACA recipients wouldn’t be targeted.

However, in June, the administration signified it would begin going after DACA recipients, too.

“DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation.”

DACA was created in 2012 by former President Barack Obama to protect immigrant children brought to the US prior to 2007 from deportation. Trump attempted to end the program during his first term but was unsuccessful. This year, the administration has indicated it will again go after it and has urged DACA recipients to self-deport.

Valdovinos is the third DACA recipient to have been detained in Yuma in recent weeks.

Officers told Flores that if they provided the proper paperwork, Valdovinos would be released and returned home. After giving the documentation to CBP, the family waited all night until Valdovinos called at midnight to ask what was going on.

The next day, he was transferred to the Florence Service Processing Center. The family learned by checking the ICE detention locator online. 

Life in Yuma

Valdovinos is a lifelong Arizonan. He attended Yuma High School, where he met his wife, and the couple has been together for over 10 years and married for about a year. They were in the process of obtaining citizenship and worry that the incident could hurt their chances.

He came to the US at two years old with his mother, who was fleeing domestic violence in Mexico, according to his sister.

They went to a safe house, a shelter for survivors of domestic abuse, and began building a life in Yuma.

His mother later had three more children, all of whom are US citizens.

When Obama launched the DACA program in 2012, Valdovinos promptly applied and kept up with renewing his status every two years, according to Flores. 

Valdovinos works at Datepac in Yuma, where he packages Medjool dates. He has no criminal history. He pays his taxes, goes to work, and has no reason to believe he would be targeted by the Trump administration.

Now, he is being held at the Florence detention center as he waits to learn what charges he is facing. Flores said Valdovinos is shaken but staying positive, and he is hopeful that his case will encourage greater protections for other DACA recipients, too.

His family has not been able to visit him but speaks with him often by phone. Valdovinos has described the conditions at the facility, including a lack of privacy while using restrooms and showers, and limited information available to detainees.

The family is remaining optimistic, but worries about deportation. Valdovinos was born in Mexico but has spent his entire life in Arizona. He speaks limited Spanish, his family lives in the US, and he would struggle to get by if deported to a country he has never known. The family is doing everything it can to prevent that outcome.

“We’re not going to be intimidated. It’s a complete injustice to all DACA recipients, and we want my brother back home,” his sister said. “This is his home. My brother doesn’t have any other home.”

The family set up a GoFundMe to help pay the cost of legal expenses.