Daniela Vargas, the 22-year-old DACA recipient who was arrested by ICE agents in Mississippi earlier this month after speaking out at a press conference against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, has been released from detention.
Vargas, who was born in Argentina, has been in the United States since age 7, and was living here legally as a Dreamer under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy until her status lapsed in November. Her ordeal with ICE began on Feb. 15, when agents entered her home and took her father and brother out in handcuffs. Vargas, who had applied for a DACA renewal five days before the raid, was not detained until March 1: According to a petition filed by her lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, she had just finished telling her family’s story at a news conference as part of a speech about immigration reform when ICE agents pulled her out of her friend’s car and took her into custody to await possible deportation.
ICE spokesman Thomas Byrd later released a statement saying Vargas had been detained as part of a “targeted immigration enforcement action”—an explanation that did nothing to undercut the impression that Vargas was being punished for sticking her neck out to voice her beliefs. According to her petition, one of the ICE agents who had participated in the raid on her home said to her, “Remember me? You know who we are; you know why we’re here.”
Vargas was being held at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana, and was under threat of expedited deportation, until her surprise release around noon on Friday. Her lawyer, Abby Peterson, told the Clarion-Ledger that Vargas was released due to “prosecutorial discretion,” and is expected to be given “basic due process rights and put in front of an immigration judge.” Peterson added:
We are overjoyed by the news of Daniela’s release. It is motivating that the power of so many voices in support of Daniela was finally heard. But it is important to underscore that this detention should have never transpired in the first place. Not every person will be fortunate enough to have the kind of backing that Daniela was afforded and we need to make sure that the enforcement priorities do not allow other individuals like Daniela to be unjustly detained for deportation.
The Clarion-Ledger reported that after her release, Vargas was driven back to Mississippi by the same friend she was with when she was detained. As she waits to hear about whether her DACA application is granted, she will continue to have an order of removal hanging over her. “Because that removal order is still there, they could enforce it at any point,” Peterson said.
