ICE director picked by Biden halted the deportation of a criminally-convicted immigrant after acting on an email from head of group that aims to abolish all immigration detention
A serial criminal's deportation was halted after a far-left activist emailed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to say the criminal should stay with his family.
Tania Mattos' June 7 email demanding that Marvin Jerezano-Pena be allowed to remain in the US made it all the way to the inbox of ICE acting director Tae Johnson, and Pena's deportation was halted shortly afterwards.
The 26 year-old - who has been accused of beating his girlfriend - was saved from being booted out of the US by the Biden Administration appointee despite being convicted of multiple felonies for drugs and stolen property offenses.
Emails obtained by Tucker Carlson's team on Fox News showed Mattos appealing for a stay of deportation, arguing his case as a former DACA recipient married to a U.S. citizen, with a two-year-old son.
DACA recipients are people who were brought to the US illegally by their parents, who have been allowed to stay in the country - provided they do not commit any crimes.
But Mattos said his case served as 'an example of how many immigrants who interact with the criminal justice system are separated from their families unfairly.'
Pena was due to be deported on June 8, and activists held a vigil outside Bergen County Jail in protest, with 14 arrested.
On June 7 Tania Mattos, a policy director at Freedom for Immigrants, wrote to Angela Kelley, a senior immigration counselor at the Department of Homeland Security.
Marvin Jerezano Pena was due to be deported on June 8, but his deportation was delayed thanks to the efforts of activist. He remains in custody in New York
Tania Mattos, a policy director with Freedom For Immigrants, wrote to ICE officials on June 7 pleading Jerezano Pena's case
Kelley forwarded the email as a 'time sensitive matter' to ICE chief of staff Timothy Perry, who requested a report on the subject. Hours later, officials sent back the report, which included his arrests and convictions in New Jersey.
Tae Johnson, the acting director of ICE, agreed to Mattos's request to delay the deportation
'Jerezano Pena is a former DACA recipient, but was denied renewal of this program in 2015 due to his previous criminal conviction history,' the agency reported.
'His criminal history includes numerous convictions for drugs, DUI and traffic offenses, dating to 2012, including in December 2017 for drugs and stolen property.'
The chief of staff then emailed the record to Tae Johnson, the acting ICE director, and said in the email that he had 'mentioned this on our call earlier.'
Later that same day, Johnson emailed a number of officials asking: 'Can we grant a 14 day stay of removal on this case to provide time to gather additional details.'
'Will do,' responded Acting Executive Associate Director of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Corey Price.
Carlson said it was evidence that 'the Abolish ICE movement now has control over ICE.'
He said it was an embarrassing use of ICE's time and resources.
'This is what they are doing as the border has descended into total chaos,' he said.
'A hellish scene of human suffering, our country is being invaded by the rest of the world, not just Latin America, not just Mexico, the whole world and they are worried about how they can keep a felon in our country without you knowing about it.
'They're doing it based on a single email from an activist.'
He added: 'Can this be real?'
An ICE spokesman told Fox News that officers 'conduct custody reviews of noncitizens in detention in accordance with U.S. law and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) civil immigration enforcement priorities.'
A spokesperson continued: 'As a professional law enforcement agency, ICE has always considered requests, views and opinions from all stakeholders.
Carlson on Tuesday night said it was outrageous that ICE were responding to activist requests
'ICE routinely works alongside local law enforcement agencies, community organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to carry out its mission of safety and security.'
Mattos's group has not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Jerezano Pena remains in detention in New York, pending deportation.
Pena was brought to the U.S. as a child by his parents, and was registered under DACA - protecting him from deportation, provided he did not commit a crime.
Yet in 2015, he was arrested for 'robbery and simple assault' by police in New Jersey, before being convicted the following year of knowingly receiving stolen property.
In 2019, he was arrested for violation of parole and a failure to report. Other arrests were for marijuana possession - although it is now legal in his home state of New Jersey.
His ex-partner, Gaby, accused him of verbal and physical abuse, according to a report.
A judge ordered his deportation to Mexico in 2020, and an appeal was unsuccessful, according to the report.
Mattos' group states that it 'is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system.'
In their five point plan, they state: 'We know that the immigration detention system is built upon a long history of white supremacy, capitalism, and imperialism. It intentionally functions to dispossess marginalized communities and peoples of their homes and their histories.'
No comments