The arrest of a well-known immigration activist's mother during a nighttime raid in Arizona has drawn attention and a huge outpouring of supporters calling for her release.
On Tuesday, Maria Arreola and Heriberto Andiola, the mother and brother of immigration activist Erika Andiola were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at their in Mesa, Ariz.
Erika and her two family members are undocumented Mexican immigrants.
Erika has been known to have worked with the Obama administration and others on immigration reform, and co-founded the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, a youth group that supports higher education and immigrant rights.
After the arrest, Erik posted a tearful and emotional video on YouTube, recounting the agents' arrival at her house.
"They came into my house, they knocked on my door...they just came to ask for my mom, they said they were not going to do anything to her. My mom came outside and they took her for no reason," she said through tears.
After immigration enforcement agents took her mother, they also arrested Erika's brother.
"They just took him, they just took him and they didn't want to tell me why, they just said that they needed to go because they were here illegally and that they shouldn't be here," she said.
The young activist, 25, issued a tearful plea online for people to push for stopping the separation of immigrant families.
"This is real, this is so real. This is not just happening to me, this is happening to families everywhere. We can not let this happen anymore, and....we need to stop pretending that we're living normal lives because we're not. This could happen to any of us any time," she said.
The arrest drew widespread protest from Arizona's immigrant rights community, who demanded the release of the Arreolas.
Both the mother and the brother were released early Friday afternoon after being held at an immigration detention center in Florence, according to The Arizona Star.
ABC's Arizona affiliate reports that Erika's mother and her son each crossed into the U.S. more than a decade ago, and while the elder woman had been removed from the U.S. on her first try to enter the country, she returned illegally some time later.
However, ICE became aware of her undocumented status in September after she was pulled over for speeding.
A statement from ICE given to The Arizona Republic states, "A fuller review of the cases is currently ongoing," the statement said. "ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering the totality of the circumstances in an individual case."
Immigration activist groups pointed to the incident as an example of why immigration reform needs to be seriously discussed in Washington.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
