Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) met Tuesday with the family of Kelly Yu, a Peoria restaurant owner who has been in ICE custody since May. Yu, who has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years, operates two popular local restaurants. The meeting drew attention to ongoing concerns that immigration enforcement is prioritizing case numbers over individual circumstances, a point that has fueled debate over federal policy.
Having fled China as a teen in 2004 to escape its one-child policy, Ms. Yu sought asylum in the U.S. and has since set roots deep enough to hold both a marriage to a U.S. citizen and a now college-aged daughter—yet not deep enough, it seems, to convince the machinery of enforcement that claimed her during a routine check-in, despite a clean criminal record. It was during one of these check-ins that, without warning, brought a sudden halt to Ms. Yu's American story in May, according to a statement on Senator Gallego's official website.
Senator Gallego's engagement with the Yu family threw into sharp relief the contrasts and contradictions of the immigration system. “This administration has prioritized arbitrary quotas instead of a humane process of dealing with illegal immigration,” said Senator Gallego in a meeting that saw a family grappling with a potential separation. He added, “If we’re a country that values families, why are we separating families? If we’re a country that values entrepreneurs, that values people that want to be part of a real American institution, why are we kicking them out of this country?” — sentiments that were echoed on his Senate page.
In the wake of these events, Senator Gallego has been vocal, alongside other Arizona Democrats, in pressing the Trump Administration for clarity on policies that seemingly target immigrants who abided by the law, attending their court hearings in Phoenix and leading productive lives. In May, they demanded answers on this shift in focus that has rerouted resources to detain law-abiding individuals, instead of pursuing those with violent criminal records, as per the Senator Gallego's official website.
