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Feds halt deportation hours after rally in support of Detroit mom

Cecelia Manquera showed up to the ICE field office in Detroit with a suitcase of clothes for her sister-in-law, Leslie Hernandez. Hernandez was scheduled for deportation this week, but ICE officials halted her removal and will release her tomorrow.
Sarah Hulett
/
Michigan Radio
Cecelia Manquera showed up to the ICE field office in Detroit with a suitcase of clothes for her sister-in-law, Leslie Hernandez. Hernandez was scheduled for deportation this week, but ICE officials halted her removal and will release her tomorrow.

Advocates for a Detroit woman held a rally today urging the federal government to scrap its plans to deport her to Mexico this week. Hours after the demonstration, immigration officials announced they would stop Leslie Hernandez’s deportation and release her.

Hernandez is – by her family’s account – exactly the kind of immigrant for whom the Obama administration says deportations should be halted.

Hernandez came to the U.S. as a child and has lived here longer than she ever lived in Mexico. She has a clean record, and three young children.

"She’s not a criminal, and it wasn’t her fault that she was brought the United States when she was a minor," said Hernandez’s sister-in-law, Cecelia Manquera.

President Obama wants immigration agents to focus enforcement efforts on removing immigrants convicted of crimes.

A spokesman for the Detroit immigration enforcement office says Hernandez will be released under federal supervision.

Sarah Hulett is Michigan Public's Director of Amplify & Longform, helping reporters to do their best work.