“So far this year more than 600 people have been deported whose most serious convictions were marijuana-related offenses, and in three out of four cases, the offense occurred at least five years ago.”
By Christie Thompson and Anna Flagg
Additional reporting contributed by Manuel Torres
Contractor Hector Madrid Reyes was driving to Home Depot in March when he was rear-ended. As he and the other driver exchanged information, a Georgia State Patrol officer pulled up and asked for their licenses. Madrid, who arrived in the U.S. from Honduras as a teenager and was awaiting a court hearing for his asylum claim, didn’t have one.
“There’s no public transportation where we’re at, no Uber or Lyft,” said his wife, Jacqueline Maravilla, about his choice to drive. “Everything’s 45 minutes from everything. It’s a calculated risk we have to take to support our family.”
That risk has grown even greater for thousands of immigrant families under the Trump administration, as officials expand efforts to deport people with little or no criminal history. The monthly number of people deported whose most serious conviction was a traffic violation—such as driving without a license—has more than tripled in the last six months, hitting almost 600 in
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