A cautionary tale for undocumented immigrants: You can make no mistakes

There always has been little room for error for immigrants in America.

Many times, there is no room at all. If you’re an immigrant, legal or not, you should never get so comfortable in this country that you forget it. It’s a harsh reality for undocumented immigrants and those who are legal permanent residents.

For undocumented immigrants, a traffic stop can be enough to set in motion deportation.

That was the case for Cristian Avalos-Merino of Berwyn. Cicero police arrested and fingerprinted him on May 14 after they found him asleep in his car and saw an open can of beer. He was charged with transportation of an open alcoholic beverage in a vehicle.

A Cicero police spokesman said Avalos-Merino’s fingerprints were entered in a database that is shared with federal authorities and caught the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

An ICE spokesman told Sun-Times reporter Manny Ramos that Avalos-Merino, who is undocumented, previously had been deported back to El Salvador. Illegal entry to the U.S. after deportation is a felony. ICE took Avalos-Merino into custody immediately after the Cicero cops released him.

His family and immigrant advocacy groups are trying to get Avalos-Merino released from ICE custody. A request for asylum, in which he cited death threats and violence against him in El Salvador, was rejected.

Avalos-Merino’s 18-month-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia recently, adding to his family’s despair.

Immigration hardliners would say Avalos-Merino doesn’t deserve to be here and should be sent back to El Salvador. In all likelihood, he will be.

People who know him, including the girlfriend with whom he has two children, say his family needs him more than ever for emotional and financial support.

“This baby needs her father by her side,” Brenda Bedolla, an immigration activist in Cicero, said at a rally for the family Wednesday in Chicago.

Avalos-Merino’s supporters want mercy for his mistake. For the sake of his children, I hope he finds it.

But there is no mercy under our current president. Even immigrants who are legal permanent residents have ended up in deportation proceedings for misdemeanor offenses committed decades ago.

Jimmy Al-Daoud, a 41-year-old former legal permanent resident from Michigan, was deported to Iraq even though he had lived in the U.S. since he was six months old. He was found dead there this summer.

Al-Daoud had a lengthy rap sheet in the U.S., which made him a target for deportation. Immigrants can have their legal status revoked for committing crimes. But Al-Daoud also was mentally ill and at times homeless. His family said his offenses were connected to his illness.

He also was a diabetic without access to adequate amounts of medicine once he arrived in Iraq. Al-Daoud’s family and lawyers believe that contributed to his death.

Al-Daoud deserved to be punished for his crimes, but he didn’t deserve a death sentence. That’s what the U.S. callously gave him by sending him to Iraq.

In the Chicago area, Avalos-Merino’s family and friends fear his life will be in danger if he is sent back to El Salvador, which has one of the world’s highest homicide rates.

He came to the U.S. for his survival, like many others from Central America. Living here doesn’t mean they have freedom to make mistakes. They can’t ever forget it.

Marlen Garcia is a member of the Sun-Times Editorial Board.