Young DREAMer Jennifer Lopez Fights to Stay with Her U.S. Citizen Family

The Obama Administration and Department of Homeland Security have told the public, via new DHS guidelines, that immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and who have no criminal background, are no longer priorities for deportation. Well, Jennifer Lopez is exactly such a case—a 21-year-old who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years, who would be eligible for the DREAM Act, has paid taxes for years, and has never been in trouble with the law.

And yet, just a few weeks after the DHS announcement of its new guidelines, a routine traffic stop in Palm Beach County, Florida, landed Jennifer Lopez in frightening deportation proceedings, facing the prospect of exile away from her entire family -- who are either U.S. citizens or currently in the process of attaining residency.

Jennifer “was in tears” from fear and desperation, her lawyer said, when she was detained and considered what it would be like to leave behind her entire family.  It’s a fear that Manuel Guerra knows well. Another young DREAMer from South Florida, Manuel Guerra was able to fight and win a stay of deportation after nearly 800 Change.org members signed his petition. Now he and his student activist group, Students Working for Immigrant Rights, have started a campaign on Change.org to keep Jennifer at home where she is so critically needed.

Doubly upsetting is the fact that Jennifer’s mother and two younger siblings are critically ill and depend on Jennifer for care. Ashley, 5, has been in observation for 3 months in the hospital after she was diagnosed with a blood clot. She is required to wear a special boot to get around and needs the help of her older sister. Her brother has begun to lose his vision and also requires assistance. And her mother underwent knee reconstruction surgery after she was diagnosed with a tumor. If Jennifer were deported, not only would she be removed from her entire family and sent to a place she hasn’t known since she was a child, but her U.S. citizen family would suffer immensely without the support and care that Jennifer provides.

Although Jennifer has been released from detention, she is being monitored with an ankle bracelet, and public pressure is needed right away to keep her home. Tell DHS and ICE to follow their own guidelines and keep Jennifer Lopez in the United States with her family.