WATCH: Rep. Sinema Loses Outreach Director/DREAMer Erika Andiola To Fight Mother's Deportation

Erika Andiola, prominent DREAMer and Outreach Director for Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9), has announced her resignation as a House staffer, so that she can help her mother in her upcoming deportation hearing.

Her departure was first profiled yesterday on BuzzFeed.com, and she was interviewed on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" last night (below).

Later on the day that Sinema hired Andiola as Outreach Director, Andiola's mother and brother were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mesa.  (Arizona's Politics was first to report that the hiring preceded the raid, and was not in response to - or, to capitalize on - the raid and ensuing publicity.)

Andiola's mother was on an ICE bus headed to being deported a few days later when the Justice Department exercised its prosecutorial discretion to release her.  The publicity from Andiola's YouTube plea and her Congressional hiring helped bring pressure to (temporarily) abort the deport.

Her mother now faces a January 2 hearing on deportation.  Andiola again hopes that she will be able to help keep her mother in the country.  In addition to providing support to her, Andiola has started an online petition to convince the immigration judge (or, the prosecution).

Sinema gave the following statement to BuzzFeed:

“While I am disappointed to lose Erika as a member of our staff, I understand that she needs to focus 100% on her mom’s case. We are hopeful that Erika’s mother can remain in the country because we believe families should stay together. Arizona families just like Erika’s are waiting for this Congress to pass commonsense comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, keeps families together, and grows our economy. Arizona has been waiting for too long already; we owe it to our state to pass immigration reform this year.”

Here is the MSNBC interview (begins about 3 minutes in, although the first three minutes are related)





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