ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation
For Hector Smith and his son David, June 3, 2025, was shaping up to be an average day. They went to work early that day; they headed home late in the afternoon. Hector, an undocumented immigrant who requested anonymity for this story when he and his son met with Mississippi Youth Media Project student journalists in Jackson in July 2025, was leaving Home Depot on Interstate 20 when he looked in his rearview mirror and saw a K-9 police SUV, its windows blacked out.
“At first I didn’t notice them,” David said in an in-person interview with the Mississippi Youth Media Project. “But then my dad said, ‘Look, there’s an SUV behind us.’”
A mile later, it was still trailing them.
The SUV continued to stay close behind Hector and his family before turning its lights on. Hector pulled the car over and waited patiently. The police officer got out, tapped the tailgate and continued walking up to the driver’s side window. David’s mind raced and jumped to what could possibly be happening. However, one thought stayed consistent: “I wish I was driving.”
Immediately, David asked why they were pulled over. The officer claimed the driver was driving recklessly. David, sitting in the passenger seat, saw nothing out of the ordinary in his father’s driving; both had, after all, been keenly aware of the vehicle following them closely.
The officer asked for Hector’s ID. David sat still, on edge, not knowing what could happen next because his father was undocumented. The officer assured Hector and his family that the stop was just going to be a warning. He then ordered Hector to step out of the vehicle for a search. After patting Hector down, the officer walked to his car and made a few calls, telling the family to sit on the curb and wait.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/a-long-way-from-home-mississippi-father-faces-deportation/