BUTLER, Pa. — A day after pleading with the Butler County Commissioners, asking them to reconsider their funding and support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Amanda Smail-Carrizalez’s husband, Ignacio, who she said is a documented immigrant, was given two choices at a hearing: self-deport or be deported by the judge.
Smail-Carrizalez’s husband was taken into ICE custody after a traffic stop in Evans City in April.
After the traffic stop, she said ICE agents approached the car.
“They violently put their hands in his vehicle and put hands on him. There was no warrant. There was no reason,” she told the Butler County Commission on Wednesday. “My husband was on his way to work.”
She said her husband has documentation and is here legally.
But since being in ICE custody, she said he has not been allowed to go to residency hearings. He missed one while in custody on June 1.
On Thursday, he had a hearing.
After the hearing, Smail-Carrizalez spoke with Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek by phone.
She said her husband had two choices: self-deport or the judge would deport him.
“She would have denied our case and deported him, and we would have had a 10-year ban,” she said.
Channel 11 emailed all three county commissioners for comment on Smail-Carrizalez’s speech to the Board of Commissioners.
County Commissioner Kim Geyer was the only commissioner to send a statement.
“Pursuant to the Constitution of the United States at Article 8 U.S.C. 1357 (g) the enforcement of immigration laws and custom enforcement is traditionally a function of the federal government. However, after 9/11 Congress carved out an exception to this premise by creating 287 (g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 whereas it mandated better information sharing between federal, state, and local agencies to identify and prevent potential terrorist threats. Under this agreement the DHS authorizes the Sheriff’s Office to perform certain immigration officer functions. In this particular case, the Butler County Sheriff and his team were not involved in apprehending what is purported to be a documented individual. In fact, the Butler County Sheriff when contacted by Ms. Smail-Carrizalez was helped by the Butler County Sheriff who looked further into the matter by contacting ICE officials to inquire and made efforts to help Ms. Smail.”
Channel 11 also reached out to Sheriff Michael Slupe for comment.
He said, “I absolutely feel bad. But, at the end of the day, if this situation is what she says, Congress absolutely needs to change the law. I think ICE is operating under the current law structure. If people don’t like it (the current immigration laws), they need to get to their Congressmen and Senators and get the law changed. I would like to add that with our experience with ICE, we have not found them to detain or cause to deport people that weren’t here illegally.”
Smail-Carrizalez responded to that statement.
“I let him know they made him miss his June 1st hearing, and as a sheriff, I believe that he should have called and questioned why,” she said.
Her husband is still in ICE custody while self-deporting. He has to leave the U.S. by July 20.
She and their six-year-old daughter will move too, in hopes of returning to the U.S. soon.
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