Several arrested as deportation fear prompts Phoenix protest
PHOENIX — Police made several arrests as protesters blocked enforcement vans from leaving a U.S. immigration office in Phoenix, fearing that a mother of two was headed for deportation.
The protest surged late Wednesday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody during a routine check-in with the agency, according to media reports.
The activists said it was an attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport immigrants living in the country illegally who had previously not been a priority for deportation under the Obama administration.
Fearing the 36-year-old woman’s return to Mexico, dozens of immigration activists blocked the gates surrounding the office near central Phoenix in what the Arizona Republic said was an effort to stop several vans and a bus from leaving.