Meet Carlos Rodriguez; for the past 3-months he's been held prisoner in the Florida immigration jail known as the Broward Detention Center. All this despite being a perfect Dreamer candidate for DACA!

In September Carlos was stopped for a broken brake-light; once stopped the officer noticed his license plate belonged to another vehicle and he was charged with petty theft. At court, on September 25th, Carlos’ charges were dropped, however he was still arrested and imprisoned by ICE. This happens because of a major flaw, that ICE has since come out against, in the whole ICE hold / detainer program. When someone is booked their prints are run and if you come out as undocumented then the jail is supposed to hold you for 48-hours, however if your charges are dismissed or dropped guess what happens? You are still held for ICE and they still pick you up!

Carlos has been living in the United States since he was 5-years old; he is currently engaged to his long-time partner and plans to soon marry her. Despite being DACA-eligible, On December 27th, Carlos was told by immigration Judge Rex Ford that he had no other option but to sign Voluntary Departure. In 2012 Judge Ford had a track-record of denying 100% of all asylum cases brought before him. Judge Ford is as biased as they come and he doesn't hide it! He's one of two judges still on the bench after a scandal which found he and others were hiring new judges based on their political leanings. Judge Ford is a proud Republican and president of the local Harley Davidson motorcycle club!

Carlos is now set to be deported on January 26th.

In reality we know there is nothing new here; this comes on the heels of a Texas case made public in December:

Rodrigo Murcia trudged out of Houston immigration court on an October afternoon, stunned by the immigration judge's decision ordering him to leave the country by Dec. 3.  Murcia, 25, had gone into court with high hopes of being spared deportation to El Salvador, a country he hadn't seen since he was 7 years old.  His attorney had told him he was a slam-dunk for the Obama administration's new deferred action program, which offered a temporary reprieve from deportation to illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and stayed in school and out of trouble.  But the judge wasn't swayed by the copy of the receipt of his deferred action application or his attorney's pleas on his behalf.

We were able to get a hold of Rodrigo's case in time and help defer his deportation just as we'll most likely be able to do with Carlos, however this brings up a larger issue, how many more DREAMers like Rodrigo and Carlos are actually getting deported because they haven't reached out for help? Wasn't this program supposed to be implemented across the country in every field office and immigration court? Did Judge Ford and the ICE prosecuting attorney pushing Carlos' removal really not know he was eligible for DACA?

Help us stop Carlos' deportation by signing his petition and contacting Senator Durbin's office to bring this matter to their attention. We need to make sure someone is looking out for those Dreamers facing deportation.