COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Maria Torres came to the United States as a ten-year-old, escaping natural disasters and gange violence in El Salvador. She says male classmates would just disappear from school — forced to joined a gang or killed for refusing to join. Torres became a citizen with help from Catholic Charities, but she says citizenship is a long, expensive road and even folks in the country legally are worried about being detained.
WATCH KATRINA'S STORY BELOW
- "Most everyone who comes into this country comes with good intentions, first of all. Second of all, it's not as easy as it sounds," she said.
- Despite the U.S. passport, Torres — the mother of a young child — has a plan if she's detained: "It's because we don't have a sign on our forehead. It doesn't say that I am a good immigrant, I'm doing my work, that I'm here legally."
- Creighton Law Professor Paul McGreal told KMTV that one of the concerns with the Supreme Court ruling Friday, limiting nation-wide injunctions, is that even native-born citizens might be subject to deportation if they don't have lawyers and access to the justice system.
- RELATED | Supreme Court limits universal injunctions in birthright citizenship fight
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's been more than two weeks since an immigration raid on Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha and there were some strong reactions from some folks in the community after that.
I'm your Southwest Iowa Neighborhood Reporter Katrina Markel here in Council Bluffs, where I learned something surprising from an immigrant who is now a citizen.
"But there are days where I'm like, 'Wow, like this could happen to me.'"
Maria Torres became a citizen several years ago and works with the immigrant community. At ten, she migrated from El Salvador, escaping earthquakes and gang violence.
"Most everyone who comes into this country comes with good intentions, first of all. Second of all, it's not as easy as it sounds," she said.
Maria's mom spent thousands of dollars navigating the family through various levels of the immigration system.
But not everyone has access to lawyers.
"Unfortunately, in our society today, it is not an uncommon problem," said Creighton law professor, Paul McGreal.
He told me Friday's Supreme Court ruling, restricting the reach of lower federal courts, could affect wrongfully detained, native-born citizens.
Katrina Markel: "... If they're detained and they can't prove it, are they going to be — are they going to struggle with getting out?"
Paul McGreal: "One of the things that the dissenting justices said in this case — that is, as a practical matter, deeply troubling — is exactly that ... If someone today, who claims that they were born in the United States, claims that they have birthright citizenship, and again, at this point every court to address this would agree with them, the fact that they are not a party to one of those lawsuits and they can't afford a lawyer will not protect them. They could be removed from the United States today."
Despite the U.S. passport, Torres — the mother of a young child — has a plan if she's detained.
"It's because we don't have a sign on our forehead," she said. "It doesn't say that I am a good immigrant, I'm doing my work, that I'm here legally."
She also advises neighbors not to carry original documents because those papers are too valuable to risk losing.
