In a new report, activists say ICE systematically retaliates against them for their work, despite the agency's denials. Advocates want the Biden administration to officially forbid the practice.
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For years, activist Maru Mora-Villalpando has organized hunger strikes to protest conditions at an immigrant detention center in Washington state. By 2017, she d gotten the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One high-ranking ICE officer described her as an instigator in an internal email. Another responded that Mora-Villalpando was a well-known local illegal alien, and suggested that trying to deport her might take away some of her clout.
A few weeks after those emails, ICE placed Mora-Villalpando, who was born in Mexico, in deportation proceedings.
For immigrant rights advocates, that email exchange is vindication of what they ve been saying for years: that ICE deliberately retaliates against activists.