MPS Teacher’s Aide Ordered to Self Deport

310 E. Knapp St. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva

A Milwaukee Public Schools teacher’s aide, Yessenia Ruano, has been ordered to self deport by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We received some difficult news today, in the sense that ICE is expecting her to self deport on June 3 and they made that very clear,” her attorney Marc Christopher said Friday morning outside of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) building at 310 E. Knapp St.

Ruano is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the U.S. since 2011. Her brother was murdered in the Central American country in 2017. She has applied for a special type of visa provided to victims of human trafficking, on the basis that she was trafficked by coyotes, or human smugglers, on her way to the U.S.

“In other words, she has been human trafficked, and she is asking the federal government for protection under the law so that she and her children can be safe here in the United States,” Christopher said. “I find that it’s disingenuous, then, for that same government, while that case is pending, to then tell her she needs to go back and subject herself to the very harm that she is receiving protection from.”

Christopher said he and Ruano are going over “a number of options” for her case.

Ruano was scheduled for a check-in with immigration authorities in the early days of the Trump administration, which has initiated concerted effort to prevent immigration and deport immigrants from Latin American countries. Concerned that she would be deported by the new administration, Ruano went public about her situation with the help of Voces de la Frontera, a local community organization that advocates for immigrant rights.

Protestors and activists accompanied Ruano to the meeting in February, which could have ended with her detention. Instead, she was granted more time while her visa application was considered by the federal government.

Ruano said she was optimistic going into the meeting with immigration authorities Friday morning, but, “again another surprise.” She is submitting herself to the immigration process using “legal ways,” but now, she said, the federal government is “closing the doors.”

“I’m filled with hope, even with the bad news,” she said. “My faith is inside of me. God is with me. You are with me.”

Ruano has two children, twin 9-year-old daughters, who are U.S. citizens. She works at the bilingual MPS charter school Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA), 1712 S. 32nd St.

“We’ve got somebody who’s been here for a long time, who’s a wonderful contributing member of our society, she works with children,” Christopher said. “She’s got two children of her own, and I think it’s a sad day, in commentary, for our country that we’re in this position.”

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