Undocumented Foreclosure Victim Deported After Protesting Illegal Foreclosure - FDL [View all]

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Undocumented Foreclosure Victim Deported After Protesting Illegal Foreclosure
By: David Dayen - FDL
Tuesday March 6, 2012 8:55 am

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You’ve heard about borrowers getting kicked out of their homes, and you’ve heard about undocumented immigrants getting deported. Rarely do you hear the story that combines the two. Here is one of those stories.

The foreclosure defense group of Occupy Los Angeles brings us the story of Blanca Cardenas. Cardenas is undocumented with two US-born children and a US citizen husband, and has been in the country for over 15 years. She took out a mortgage eight years ago on a home in North Hollywood. For the past year, Cardenas has been fighting a foreclosure by Bank of America that she and other activists deemed illegal, due to fraudulent paperwork, as well as an imminent federal bankruptcy, which is supposed to forestall eviction. But the foreclosure went to auction, and an investor named Mehrdad Farahmand, representing a company called A to Z Development, purchased the property. Cardenas faced eviction.

Two weeks ago, Cardenas and some Occupy movement members protested the eviction with a direct action on her front lawn. Farahmand allegedly initiated a citizens arrest, prompting the LAPD to take Cardenas into custody (Occupy LA alleges that LAPD didn’t even have jurisdiction over an eviction of this type; the LA County Sheriff’s Department does). Then, they traced back Cardenas’ immigration status, and turned her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Despite there being a standing order not to deport any undocumented immigrant who doesn’t have a criminal record, a week later, ICE deported Cardenas to Mexico, separating her from her two children, one of whom is 17 months old. Cardenas’ husband, Gerardo Quinones, said in a statement, “It’s been devastating since they took her. She was deported with nothing but the clothes on her, she didn’t have money or anything else. She had every right to fight for her home and believed the authorities would protect her.”

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More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/03/06/undocumented-foreclosure-victim-deported-after-protesting-illegal-foreclosure/