Mother's detention in Arizona immigration case sparks protests

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Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, a mother of two, said a prayer before her yearly check-in with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix.

But her meeting Wednesday with immigration officials ended differently than others over the last eight years: She was taken into custody and ordered to be deported.
"Lupita has been doing yearly check-ins with ICE and nothing happened," said Lucy Sandoval, an activist who has been working with Garcia de Rayos' family. "But this is a different time."

Immigration advocates said they believe the woman's detention reflects the Trump administration's hard line on illegal immigration.

She could be the first Arizonan to be deported under President Donald Trump's new executive order focused on removing undocumented immigrants with a history of arrests, Garcia's attorney told CNN affiliate KNXV-TV.

In 2008, Garcia de Rayos was arrested in a workplace raid, convicted of felony impersonation and served six months in ICE detention before being released later that year, according to CNN affiliate KPHO/KTVK-TV. Originally from Mexico, she was in the country illegally.

Immigration officials said she was detained "based on a removal order issued by the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review which became final in May 2013."

"Relevant databases indicate Ms. Garcia De Rayos has a prior felony conviction dating from March 2009 for criminal impersonation," the ICE statement said.

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