Dreamers Arrested in Protests Helped Those who “Were There to Commit Crime and Damage”

Illegal immigrants protected by an Obama-era amnesty for adults who came to the U.S. as children are among the rioters arrested and charged with crimes in Arizona. One of them, 30-year-old Mexican illegal alien Maxima Guerrero, is a community organizer with a Phoenix-based grassroots migrant justice organization called Puente Movement. She has been shielded from deportation under Obama’s controversial program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) since 2013. The former president issued the DACA executive order after Congress repeatedly rejected legislation offering illegal immigrants similar protections. The failed measure was called Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act) and DACA recipients are often called “Dreamers.”

More than 100,000 DACA applicants have criminal histories, according to figures released late last year by the U.S. government. Many have been arrested for serious crimes such as murder, rape and driving under the influence. The government can deport those charged with crimes, immediately stripping them of the Obama protections but that rarely occurs. The recent Phoenix arrestees were apprehended in the course of criminal behavior, according to a local news report and information obtained by Judicial Watch from police sources on the ground. Guerrero and two other Dreamers were out rioting and looting in a “Justice for George Floyd” protest in downtown Phoenix, city police sources tell Judicial Watch. Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said this in the media about the vehicles occupied by the arrested Dreamers: “Those cars were used to fortify and give rocks and water bottles, food to those individuals who were there to commit crime and damage, to do dangerous things to our community.”

The information is especially relevant considering the source is an open borders advocate. A few years ago Williams, who joined protestors in downtown Phoenix, tried to make her law enforcement agency an illegal immigrant sanctuary at the request of a leftist group. Judicial Watch obtained records of a secret meeting in 2017 in which the police chief of Arizona’s largest city took orders from Will Goana, policy director for the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The private session occurred just weeks before the Phoenix Police Department quietly implemented a policy banning officers from contacting the feds after arresting an illegal immigrant and forbidding them from asking about suspects’ immigration status. The order violated key provision of a state law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and left the city vulnerable to costly lawsuits. Chief Williams posted on social media that she attended protests because demonstrators invited her as part of ongoing meetings to find viable solutions to their genuine concerns. “I’m confident our community can come together and be stronger,” she writes in the post.

The illegal immigrant Dreamers recently arrested by her officers are Mexican citizens who came to the U.S. illegally as youngsters and enjoy perks and protections that many other undocumented aliens do not. Part of the deal is that they respect law and order to avoid being deported. Instead, they were out at 3 a.m., well past a statewide curfew, and up to no good. A vehicle occupied by the illegal alien Dreamers, was “loaded with incendiary devices,” according to a high-level Phoenix Police source, who confirmed to Judicial Watch that Guerrero was among them. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) obtained a list from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of those arrested that night. Besides Guerrero they include 26-year-old Jesus Manuel Orona, 21-year-old Roberto Carlos Cortes Mondragon and 22-year-old Johan Montes Cuevas. CIS reported last week that all of the illegal aliens were briefly detained, released on supervision and face deportation in addition to serious criminal charges.

DACA has shielded nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under the age of 31 from deportation and allowed them to obtain work permits and drivers licenses. The Trump administration tried to end DACA in 2017 but open borders groups sued to keep it going and now the Supreme Court is set to decide the matter. Regardless of how the high court rules, the fact remains that a big chunk of DACA applicants have arrest records, according to the figures released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Homeland Security agency that administers the nation’s lawful immigration system. The stats show that nearly 110,000 DACA requestors out of nearly 889,000 had arrest records, accounting for 12% of applicants. “Offenses in these arrest records include assault, battery, rape, murder and driving under the influence,” USCIS wrote in a statement announcing the report in November. Here is another disturbing fact; of approved DACA requestors with an arrest, a whopping 85% (67,861) were arrested right before the U.S. granted them amnesty. Nearly 25,000 DACA recipients with arrests had multiple arrests and 218 had more than 10 arrests. Incredibly, around one-fourth of the illegal immigrants with more than 10 arrests were approved by the government. In all, the government reveals that it has approved 79,398 DACA requestors with arrest records. Not all the delinquents are approved, the figures show. More than 100,000 with criminal arrests were denied or terminated.