Two men from Argentina will have to go before an immigration judge to find out if they'll be deported. Agents arrested the undocumented workers yesterday morning.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents converged on a Jackson home arresting a father and son while the daughter, 21-year old Daniela Vargas spent hours in custody. She says agents made the arrests as her father Daniel Vargas and her brother 26-year old Alan left for work. She recalls her father waking her up around 6:30.
"My dad had just given me a kiss said bye. I was asleep. And then I don't know how much time later cause I feel asleep, but it probably could've been five minutes. My dad said Danny immigration's here," said Daniela.
Daniela says she locked herself in her room. But she says agents burst through the door and spent more than five hours searching the home. Daniela says her brother was undocumented and worked as a construction framer. Bill Chandler is with the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. He says the elder Vargas applied for a special Visa after he became a crime victim in Mississippi and was awaiting a response.
"I think it's terrible what they're doing and you know this is something that needs to come to a halt," said Chandler.
Daniela says she's a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) student, which means she was brought to the country as a minor by undocumented parents and that gives her protection from deportation to attend college. She just applied for another DACA extension and had to take a semester off to pay her school bill. Agents didn't arrest her.
"My dad he's been working his life away for us, for me to go to school and for him to have money for my tuition because DACA doesn't give me government help," said Daniela Vargas.
ICE spokesperson Thomas Byrd explains what happens next.
"They'll be processed and then the determination will be made as to whether or not we detain them until they see an immigration judge," said Byrd.
Daniela Vargas says she has no other family here. Her parents are divorced and her mother lives in another state. An attorney with MIRA is handling the case.
