GEOFF BENNETT: The Trump administration has said its immigration crackdown targets the worst of the worst.

But many people without criminal records are getting swept up and detained, some of them along with their families.

Our Lisa Desjardins spoke earlier with one of them.

LISA DESJARDINS: In October, Jackie Merlos was released from an ICE processing center in Tacoma, Washington, after spending more than 100 days in federal custody.

Merlos came to the U.S.

illegally in 2003 from Honduras.

She later gained a temporary legal status while her full visa is pending.

She has no criminal history.

Jackie was detained along with her four children, all of whom are U.S.

citizens, at a park in Washington state near the Canadian border.

She and her kids spent 14 days in detention before her children were released to a family friend.

Jackie was able to reunite with her family after her time in custody.

Meantime, her husband, Carlos, has been deported to Honduras.

Joining me now is Jackie Merlos and her lawyer, Sarah Kahn.

Jackie, you were there in Peace Arch Park just back from visiting your sister, who lives in Canada.

What did the officers who approached you say and then what happened?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS, Detained by CBP and ICE: They just approached us and took us to the detention center, saying that I was smuggling my family, something that is a false accusation and doesn't make any sense.

LISA DESJARDINS: You were in a windowless detention room with your four children, who are elementary school-age for two weeks.

How do you explain that to a child?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: They treat us not as human beings.

They treat us more than animals.

The detention center wasn't good for -- to have a family there.

My kids started having so much hunger of all the stress and trauma that they were going through.

And kneeling on our knees and reading the Bible was one of the things that helped us through those long 14 days that we spent in detention.

I told them, don't worry about it.

You know Mommy didn't do anything.

They kidnapped us for 14 days.

No one knew anything about us.

They didn't let us to use the phone to call daddy.

They didn't let me have access to my attorneys.

They blocked everything for us.

LISA DESJARDINS: You had a thriving construction business.

Can you help us understand, where are you now?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: I lost my business.

I lost all my clients.

And we live in fear.

My kids live in fear.

Those 14 days and four months that I spent in detention were really, really bad for them, because there's been so much trauma.

My little one pee in his pants, and they are not the happy kids that they were before our detention.

LISA DESJARDINS: Sarah, I want to ask you.

In your view, none of this was legal.

Can you help us?

Let's start with the kids.

What laws do you think could have allowed them to detain these kids for 14 days?

Are there any?

SARAH KAHN, Attorney For Kenia Jackeline "Jackie" Merlos: No, there are no laws that permit DHS to detain United States citizens.

And CBP and ICE now do detain children all the time, including United States citizens, when a parent is detained.

But, no, it is illegal to -- for DHS to detain a citizen.

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to ask you also then about Jackie's status.

She applied for a U visa, which we have talked about before on this program.

A U visa is given to someone who is a witness to a crime, might help in the prosecution of it.

She was held at gunpoint in a different incident.

Now, she doesn't have that visa yet.

Can you explain why you think that is a protected legal status?

SARAH KAHN: So for 30 years, Congress has written and strengthened legislation that protects survivors of crime.

Those protections include this pathway to a visa and then to citizenship.

Because there's a cap on the number of visas, people wait for a very long time.

And if, while they're waiting, the government looks at their application and decides that they're very likely to be approved, they grant them deferred action and work authorization.

Jackie had deferred action and she had permission to live here and to work lawfully when she was arrested.

There was absolutely no reason for her arrest.

LISA DESJARDINS: We asked, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to "News Hour"'s requests for comment.

But a U.S.

Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Oregon Public Broadcasting that agents arrested you, Jackie, for attempting to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S.

on June 28, and that the kids were present during the smuggling attempt and that you requested the children remain with you during detention.

How do you respond to that?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: They questioned my kids twice without me being present.

It's -- when I came to the cell, they were so afraid of them.

And they said to me: "Mom, they are saying that they are going to give us to DHS."

And I say: "There's no way that they are going to give you guys to DHS.

Mom is a good mom.

And if they try to do that, families should be together, not separate.

And they want to separate us."

LISA DESJARDINS: Jackie, you arrived in this country illegally.

What do you say to people who believe you shouldn't be here and you should be removed from this country?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: I ran away from my country because of the violence and because I was thinking one day to have a family, so we can live free, and not to be in fear.

And now we are living in fear.

My kids are living in fear.

It's, what we're going to do with all this generation that are living in fear, even knowing that they are citizen of United States?

They don't have rights anymore.

LISA DESJARDINS: As you mentioned, your kids are U.S.

citizens.

They're also just in elementary school.

You said that they live in fear right now.

Do you have a sense of how they view this country right now?

How do you view this country right now?

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: I don't really make -- I don't really have words for that.

How are we going to deal with this generation, with all the kids that are supposed to be playing and enjoying their life?

Now any time when we go somewhere, they have to look through their shoulders any time, if the ICE is not coming, if no one is going to come to get us.

Every day right before they go to school, they say to me: "Mom, don't go anywhere."

I barely drive.

I don't have the life that I was having before that.

I was taking my kids to all the things that they were having, like music lessons.

I stopped taking them to music lessons.

I stopped taking them to a lot of activities just because I live in fear that they can detain me again.

Even knowing that I won my case and I spent four months of my life in detention, I still live in fear.

LISA DESJARDINS: Jackie Merlos and Sarah Kahn, thank you so much for talking with us.

KENIA JACKELINE "JACKIE" MERLOS: Thank you.

SARAH KAHN: Thank you.