From there, police reportedly took Rosa to a local jail and was placed into custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She was deported to Mexico on Friday.
Rosa told KTSM that she has her “whole life” in El Paso, where she also graduated high school.
“I got there when I was little – I don’t remember anything about Juarez,” she said.
According to a local ABC station, Rosa is also one of a number of witnesses the local district attorney has lined up for a coming trial in the 2019 shooting case.
Anna Hey, an attorney who heads up the Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, said the deportation “amounts to a re-victimization of this young lady, who only came forward to help build the case against the shooter in the racist attack.”
“Rosa is a survivor of one of the most horrific events to ever take place in El Paso. She came forward and presented herself to both El Paso police and FBI officials to give a statement of what she saw on that fateful day,” she told the local station.
“The information she has was sufficient for the District Attorney’s office to issue a certification that she has been helpful in the investigation. Despite having told this to the ICE officials who made the decision to deport her based on a years old deportation order, ICE officials in El Paso chose to remove her from the US, leaving her unsupported in Juarez,” she added.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) also spoke out against the deportation in a tweet on Saturday and backed efforts to have Rosa returned to the U.S.
“I’m supporting [Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services] efforts and will do everything I can to bring Rosa home and fight to protect victims and witnesses from deportation,” she tweeted.
