A Yuma man is in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody after he and his wife were stopped Sunday afternoon near downtown Yuma.
Jose Valdovinos, 26, is a Dreamer. He thought he was protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. His wife Jitzell Flores, who is a U.S. citizen, told KAWC he has lived in the U.S. for 25 years.
The DACA program was created in 2012 to protect children who arrived in the country illegally prior to 2007 from deportation.
Flores said Valdovinos worked at Datepac and has no criminal history. They are high school sweethearts from Yuma High School and have been married for about a year.
She said her husband has a court date in Phoenix next week.
KAWC reached out to Yuma Sector Border Patrol officials. They confirmed Valdovinos was in custody but did not give further details as of Tuesday evening.
In recent months, the Trump administration has tried to strip 525,000 DACA recipients of benefits, although no regulatory changes have been made to end the program.
"Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations," Department of Homeland Security assistant press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to NPR. "DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country."
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Stay tuned to KAWC to hear from Jose Valdovinos' wife Jitzell Flores.
NPR contributed to this report.
