ICE'd: Another U.S. Citizen Detained and Deported for Looking Mexican

With all the excitement of this historic election, it is normal to overlook other news that normally would not have been missed; especially, the flagrant abuse of power by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Throughout Chertoff's tenure as Homeland Secretary, I have said countless of times, as long as Homeland Security and ICE continues their "round them all up, ask questions later" policy, it will always be an open season on all Latinos/as, regardless of their citizenship.

It is ironic with less than a week for the election, I am proven correct again. According to the Los Angeles Times, ICE once again mistakenly detained a US citizen. Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held in a detention center for two weeks.

Federal authorities have released a Los Angeles man from immigration detention after acknowledging that he is a U.S. citizen.

Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held at an Otay Mesa detention center from Sept. 25 until Oct. 9, when an American Civil Liberties Union attorney presented his birth certificate, school and vaccination records to immigration authorities. He was released that day.

In an interview with HOY (h/t to el profe of Latino Like Me), Olivares said "No me creyeron. ... Me decían que yo era mexicano porque me parecía a los mexicanos." (They didn't believe me. They told me I was a Mexican because I looked like a Mexican.)