A Jailed Janitor Has Become Emblematic of President Trump ’s Immigration Sweep

(BOSTON) — Francisco Rodriguez-Guardado’s first son was born just days after he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials for deportation back to his native El Salvador. He has yet to meet his son but is told there’s a resemblance. “They tell me he has my eyes,” the 43-year-old said with a mix of wistfulness and pride this month in an interview at the Suffolk County House of Corrections. Rodriguez-Guardado, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology janitor whose case became a rallying cry for local opponents of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown this summer, awaits his fate in the Boston jail. His supporters say his case and others like it highlight how the Republican administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has swept up not just hardened criminals — the “bad hombres” Trump frequently railed against on the campaign trail — but also otherwise law abiding, contributing members of American society. Arrests of immigrants in the country illegally have increased about 37%, from about 55,000 during the first six months of last year to 75,000 in the first half of this year, according to data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of those, non-criminal immigrants made up nearly 20,000 of all arrests, a 145 percent increase from the first half of last year. Among the emblematic cases is that of Roberto Beristain, a restaurant owner in Granger, Indiana, who was deported to Mexico...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Immigration Massachusetts onetime Source Type: news