Illegal Immigrant Shocked at Deportation Arrest After Failing to Appear in Court

An illegal immigrant from Mexico appears to be surprised that immigrants officials arrested him after he failed to appear for hearings for three years. The Mexican man had been given a second chance by an immigration judge in 2013 who stopped a deportation order.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested Luis Plaza Moreno, 44, at an immigration office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, earlier this week. Moreno went to the office to renew a work permit, The Oklahoman reported.

Plaza illegally entered the U.S. near Nogales, Arizona in 2002, ICE officials told the local newspaper. Nine years later, he came in contact with police during a traffic stop. Despite not getting a ticket, Plaza’s attorney, Giovanni I. Perry, said immigration officers moved against him an obtained a deportation order. She successfully blocked the deportation order and the immigration judge enrolled the illegal immigrant in an Alternatives to Detention program.

ICE officials told the newspaper that an immigration judge issued a removal order on April 16, 2013. Four months later, immigration officials granted the man a stay of removal for one year. At that time, the officials enrolled him in the program but told him to report to immigration officials in Oklahoma City on August 13, 2014. When Plaza failed to appear, officials reclassified him as an “immigration absconder.”

“After more than three years with no contact from Plaza Moreno, ICE deportation officers arrested him Oct. 25, 2017, after he arrived at the ICE Oklahoma City to request a stay of removal,” according to immigration officials.

Plaza has six children. Three of the children are U.S. citizens by birth. Another of his children has Permanent Legal Resident status. The two remaining children received President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

His oldest son, Luis Plaza, Jr., described being shocked that his officers arrested his father.

ERO officers transferred Plaza to the detention facility in North Texas. His family is seeking to stop the deportation despite his alleged violations of the terms of his previous stay of deportation.