Iowa woman almost wrongly deported
A Letter From Iowan Gordie Felger
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Des Moines resident Leticia Jacobo was jailed in November for driving with a suspended license. Jacobo’s mother, Ericka Burns, went to the Polk County Jail to pick up her daughter. Jail officials told Burns that sheriff’s department personnel had placed an “ICE detainer” on Jacobo. She was scheduled for deportation to Mexico. Jail officials said the detainer, intended for another prisoner, was the result of a “clerical mix-up.”
There are two MAJOR problems with this scenario.
First, driving with a suspended license is a misdemeanor. Remember when the President promised that ICE would deport only “dangerous criminals?” Like murderers, sex offenders, and child predators. A driving violation is not a dangerous crime!
Second, Jacobo, a Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community member, was born in Phoenix. She’s not an immigrant. But her skin tone makes her an easy target in an age of mass deportation quotas.
Jacobo had her tribal identification card with her. Jail staff said they couldn’t do anything until immigration officers arrived. Jacobo was released only when Burns returned with her daughter’s birth certificate.
That jail officials didn’t verify Jacobo’s citizenship shows professional negligence. That they reportedly “thought it was funny” demonstrates callousness. That Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Chance called the incident “silly” is a disgrace.
Anyone who says institutional racism doesn’t exist in the US has never been a victim of institutional racism. Anyone who says racial profiling isn’t a problem has never experienced racial profiling. The deportation (and near deportation) of U.S. citizens is the price we pay for our arrogance.
Gordie Felger
Hiawatha, Iowa
This was originally published on Felger’s Substack, wtfiowa.substack.com.
Letters From Iowans is a part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. We encourage you, our subscribers, to share your perspective in this column. To make your voice heard, use this form to send us your essay:
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This woman's experience needs to be talked about over and over. The Kavanagh ruling on skin tone detainment can not be defended nor explained other than it is blatant racism and ignorance. Thanks
Thanks for pointing out the failure of both local and Federal government! Especially the callousness of making a joke out of maliously deporting someone to God knows where, potentially jailing them forever in some hell hole! That isn't silly, that is behavior that can be called out as racist and worse! This isn't justice this is simply targeting people without cause or warrant.