The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Shelly Burgoyne
When Vets Forward members stood on the steps of the immigration court for Karla Toledo’s first hearing, we looked into the television cameras and delivered a grim warning: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would come for her again. We took no joy in being right. This week, ICE proved our worst fears true by refiling deportation proceedings against Karla, a 31-year-old DACA recipient and long-time Tucson resident.
Arizona Veterans are forced to ask a simple, painful question: haven’t they terrorized Karla enough?
As military veterans, we swore an oath to protect our neighbors and defend the ideals of safety, fairness, and justice. What is happening to Karla Toledo represents none of those things. In May, ICE agents arrived at her Flowing Wells home, illegally forcing their way inside without a judicial warrant to violently haul her away from her family. She was thrown into the Eloy Detention Center - to be left behind.
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ICE has now chosen to weaponize a legal loophole—the fact that the dismissal was "without prejudice"—to immediately drag her back into the nightmare.
Vets Forward firmly condemns the deportation of DACA recipients. Karla has lived her life under the rules of a federal program designed to offer protection to those who grew up in the United States. Her current legal DACA status is expiring next month, and her renewal application is sitting in bureaucratic limbo.
This relentless and gang-like harassment does not make Tucson safer. It does not honor the values we wore the uniform to defend. It only breeds fear and it is lazy law enforcement void of honor.
Our federal agencies should protect people, not terrorize them. ICE must permanently drop the case against Karla Toledo, and our lawmakers must finally deliver the permanent protections our DACA neighbors deserve. Vets Forward stood with Karla at her first hearing, and we will continue to stand with her now. Our community is stronger when we protect each other.
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Shelly Burgoyne is the Southern Arizona Director of Vets Forward and U.S. Army veteran.
