Grijalva Demands Due Process for Tucson DACA Recipient Facing Deportation

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Adelita S. Grijalva today called on federal authorities to release DACA recipient Jessica Corrales-Duarte from immigration detention, reunite her with her family, and halt deportation proceedings. She is currently facing a misdemeanor charge for a minor offense in municipal court but has been unable to appear in court to defend herself due to her detention. She faces the prospect of deportation under the Laken Riley Act passed last year, which subjects certain immigrants to detention and removal proceedings based on pending charges rather than a criminal conviction. Representative Grijalva released the following statement:
“ ICE is going after yet another DACA recipient in our community. Her name is Jessica Corrales-Duarte and she is a constituent of mine. Jessica is a married 29-year-old mother of two young girls. She was born in Mexico and brought to the United States when she was just two years old.
Jessica is facing misdemeanor charges related to an alleged minor offense. According to her attorney, she has no prior criminal record. Jessica wasn’t able to attend a hearing today in municipal court to defend herself because she has been held at a federal detention facility in Eloy for the last six months. Like anyone else in this country, she is entitled to due process and to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. However, there is a real possibility that she will be deported without ever getting her day in court. That is both cruel and fundamentally unjust. This is a direct consequence of the Laken Riley Act, where a mere accusation — not a conviction — of a minor offense is enough to trigger deportation.
I am calling on federal authorities to release Jessica from detention, reunite her with her family, and halt all deportation proceedings. No mother who has spent nearly her entire life in this country should be torn away from her children.”

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