ICE Arrests Black Migrant With Green Card Over Marital Status

US-JUSTICE-IMMIGRATION — Source: BRYAN R. SMITH / Getty

While the Trump administration continues to gaslight us by claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are mainly targeting violent criminals and are not engaging in racial profiling, ICE has reportedly taken into custody a Black Congolese-born woman who is a green card holder just because of a minor discrepancy regarding her marital status.

According to NBC News 5, 24-year-old mother of one, Esther Ngoy Tekele, returned home to the United States from a family wedding in Canada on July 6, and she was expecting to go through the usual procedure at the U.S./Canada border. Instead, the Vermont resident was arrested by ICE agents and taken to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. Her “crime”? Marking herself “single” when she had just gotten married days prior.

From NBC:

ICE officials accuse Tekele of knowingly and willfully lying about her marital status, which she denies. According to ICE, the 24-year-old got married four days before coming to the U.S. on a green card pertaining to a single person.

Tekele’s lawyer, Nathan Virag, says the allegation of intentional lying are completely false.

“This is a person who’s never been in trouble with the law. Pays her taxes, strong community member, helps refugees and other folks coming in the country. If you look at it in total, it’s very unusual that a person would be detained under those circumstances. Usually if you want to pursue removal proceedings, you can just issue what’s called a notice to appear, or NTA, and usually they’re released. So, this was very uncommon. It’s very unheard of,” Virag said.

According to Inquistr, court documents show Tekele had been held for several days. She had no way to contact her lawyer.

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that ICE is correct and Tekele was inaccurate regarding her relationship status by all of four days. So what? She is a legal U.S. resident who has lived a quiet life in Vermont for four years and has no criminal record to speak of. What great harm has the federal government protected America from by arresting and imprisoning this woman, who has a 2-year-old son, and depriving her of her civil liberties?

In fact, according to Tekele’s brother, Coco Ngoy, their whole family was detained after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pulled their vehicle over and commanded everyone to wait in the office seating area. Ngoy said the family was detained for about three hours before they were finally approached by law enforcement, who told them they were free to go, except for Tekele, who was released last Thursday on a $7,500 bond. (That’s $7,500 just for allegedly not mentioning her four-day-old marriage.)

“I can say we were treated like slaves because you could even tell from the body language — from the nonverbal language — how disrespectful some of the officers were,” Ngoy said.

More from NBC:

Ngoy explained that he and Tekele waited in the office for nearly 19 hours before he left briefly to buy her food. When he returned, Tekele was gone. Ngoy immediately sought help from the nonprofit Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV). With the help of U.S. Rep. Becca Balint’s office, they located Tekele at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility.

According to her brother, Tekele has made multiple trips to Canada over the past four years while living in Vermont. She has a 2-year-old son and is the primary caregiver for her mother at their home in Burlington. Ngoy said her family urgently needs her home and hopes for justice in her case.

“People who can make decisions, people who have the influence — I’m just asking them to step up and help,” Ngoy said.

AALV, a nonprofit based in Burlington that “helps new Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services,” according to its website, is asking for donations to aid Tekele and her family as they navigate the legal process.

It was never about removing criminals from the U.S. This administration’s all-out war on immigrants is xenophobia and white nationalism in action. That’s it and that’s all.

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