Whenever someone opens the door of a basement apartment in Brentwood, some of Nuvia Martinez Ventura’s five children rush to it, thinking she is finally coming home and walking in.

But she never does.

Martinez Ventura, 30, has been sitting in an immigration jail in Texas some 1,700 miles from home for more than a month. The Salvadoran immigrant is one of thousands of people caught up in President Donald Trump’s push to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history.

The campaign, which Trump says is targeting dangerous criminals, also is sweeping up many people with no criminal records and tearing apart families, according to advocates and immigration lawyers.

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

President Donald Trump says his push to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign

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