Longtime North Texas dry cleaners detained after dropping daughter off at college, facing possible deportation
A trip to drop off their daughter at Texas Tech University has resulted in an unhappy ending for a North Texas couple.
The couple, who own a Grand Prairie dry cleaning business, has been detained and faces possible deportation after a traffic stop in West Texas.
The arrest raises questions about the selective use of state and local police departments to check on the immigration status of the people they pull over.
It was a proud moment when Arcadio and Veronica Ortega dropped off the youngest of their four children for her senior year at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
But on the way back home to Grand Prairie, they were pulled over in Eastland County for what their children say was "...a routine traffic stop."
"But instead of letting them go on their way, the officer contacted ICE to verify their immigration status. Without warning or clear reason, my parents were taken to the county jail," Yolanda Ortega, the detained couple's daughter, said in a statement. "In a few hours, ICE picked them up and transferred them to the South Texas Detention Complex, where they are still being held. They are separated from us, scared, and facing an uncertain future."
The Ortegas have operated the dry cleaners on Carrier Parkway in Grand Prairie for eight years.
Their daughter said they entered the country 25 years ago without visas. That means they will likely be denied bond and held for months.
"It breaks my heart every time I hear ICE taking hard-working Mexican people," said Bianca Duron, a longtime customer of the Ortegas' laundromat.
Longtime customers like Duron are among those sending recommendation letters, donating to an online account, and speaking out on behalf of the detained couple.
"This is just a cleaner," said Duron. "They are good for the community and they help out. So, I'm sorry, I just don't understand why."
The couple's children are struggling to keep the dry cleaning business operating while the owners remain detained in South Texas.
"They said it would only be dangerous criminals, but I don't see that; that's not the case," said immigration attorney Tessy Ortiz.
Ortiz says if the couple had been pulled over on a traffic stop in DFW, most police agencies would not have checked their immigration status.
"This is also because ICE is enforcing anything that comes to its plate, anything," said Ortiz. "So, with old policies for a minor traffic violation, ICE would not pick up an alien unless they had criminal records."
It's possible the Ortegas will never return to their business and adopted home.
"This situation has torn our family apart. We are devastated and trying to understand how our loving parents could be taken from us so suddenly," Yolanda Ortega said in a statement posted online. "My sister, who just started college, now carries the weight of this trauma and uncertainty when she should be focused on her studies."
Dallas parents detained by CBP immigration agents in May
A similar story occured in May, when a Dallas family was on their way to El Paso to celebrate their daughter's college graduation from the University of Texas at El Paso. While driving through Taylor County, the Granados Rojas family was stopped by state troopers for not having a front license plate. Jennifer Granados Rojas, one of the couple's daughters, said the troopers then asked to see the entire family's documentation.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said that the couple "overstayed their tourist visas" and "presented expired driver's licenses" when they were pulled over, subjecting them to removal proceedings. Their daughters are DACA recipients, and their son is a U.S. citizen.
Ortiz said the Granados Rojas family has positively contributed to society.
The Trump administration has said it is primarily targeting immigrants who are in the country illegally and have criminal records, but the Dallas County Sheriff's Office found no prior criminal record for either of the parents.
DPS defends cooperation with immigration enforcement
A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson said it's standard procedure for state troopers to collaborate with federal law enforcement, even if an individual has no criminal record.
"It's not unusual. It happened even under other administrations. What is a little different under this administration is the extent to which local law enforcement is getting involved in finding those families, those individuals that have been here for years without status, and then turning them over to immigration," said Denise Gilman, a University of Texas School of Law professor.
TxDPS confirmed it has always worked with immigration agencies, but added that "in recent months, these agencies have been increasingly responsive" to the department's calls for assistance. Gilman said most undocumented immigrants are not a security threat and shouldn't be an enforcement priority.
"Then they create a breach with the community, and it actually makes their job harder to protect public safety because members of the community are less likely to come forward when crimes are committed," Gilman said.