Deportation document described immigrant activist’s protests

By GENE JOHNSON
Today

SEATTLE (AP) — An immigrant rights advocate targeted for deportation first came to the attention of authorities because she discussed her unlawful status in the country in an interview with a monthly newspaper last year, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote in a newly released document.

But the official, Timothy Black, also noted her “extensive involvement with anti-ICE protests and Latino advocacy programs” — something her supporters said proves she was targeted for political reasons.

“I’m being put in deportation proceedings because of my political stance, because of my media presence, because I’ve utilized my freedom of speech,” the activist, Maru Mora-Villalpando, told reporters during a conference call Monday. “This is a pattern of behavior which ICE is developing now under this administration.”

Maru Mora-Villalpando, a 47-year-old Mexico City native and activist supporting immigrants who are detained at the privately run Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, has no criminal record. She has been in the U.S. continuously since 1996 after overstaying a visa.

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