DENVER – The Denver-area mother of several children arrested by federal immigration agents last Wednesday during a routine check-in was deported to Mexico on Friday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman said Sunday.
Ilse Cristina Rodriguez-Sagarnaga, 30, (also known as Isle Christina by ICE) was removed to Juarez, Mexico via El Paso, Texas on Friday, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok.
Rodriguez-Sagarnaga had told Denver7 earlier that day that she had been taken from ICE custody in Denver to Arizona, where her deportation was imminent.
Her attorneys and supporters have said that she has lived in the U.S. since she first entered illegally when she was 5 years old, though ICE has not been able to confirm when she came to the U.S.
She has three misdemeanor convictions in Colorado, including a guilty plea for false reporting and harassment.
Rodriguez-Sagarnaga’s attorney had claimed that the false reporting plea came after she claimed she was a victim of domestic violence at the hands an ex-husband.
Rusnok says ICE granted Rodriguez-Sagarnaga a one-year stay of removal in June 2016, and that she had requested another stay of removal, which was denied on Tuesday.
Her attorney and supporters had said she was awaiting the approval of a U-Visa, which are given to victims of domestic violence living in the country illegally who aid law enforcement during some investigations.
Her attorney had also argued that she should have been eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program because she was brought to the U.S. as a child.
Her case is the latest in a host of cases involving ICE agents arresting people in the Denver area and deporting them for minor convictions, even if they have children who are U.S. citizens.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have said that they will prosecute people living in the country illegally no matter their criminal record.