Woman Responds to Backlash Over Her Post on Paying Taxes

 

When 23-year-old Belén Sisa posted a picture of herself along with a 1040 tax form on Facebook to show she had paid state taxes in Arizona despite being an undocumented immigrant she didn't know what to expect.

"I wanted to educate people and bust the myth," Sisa told NBC Latino, "that Uncle Sam doesn't care if you have a social security number."

Sisa is shielded from deportation under former President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Response to the controversial post was swift. Sisa said she has received plenty of backlash, even death threats and that many people messaged her informing her they had reported her post to local immigration authorities.

Although Sisa said she's received hundreds of messages, it's unclear how many people have reported the post to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"As a matter of policy, the agency does not speculate on any alleged tips made through the ICE tip line," said Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a spokesperson for the agency, to NBC Latino.

Sisa remains defiant.

"I've been paying taxes for the past 4 years since I've had DACA. I always get annoyed and kind of angry because I pay taxes but all you hear is that we don't."

Although some of the messages were positive, she wanted to expose some of the ugly and wrote a follow up post on Facebook with screenshots of some of the messages she had allegedly received. Read more here