Jorge Garcia, 39, who has lived in the United States since he was a
child, was forced to say a painful goodbye to his family at the Detroit
Metro Airport early Monday morning as he was deported.
The landscaper and father of two, who has lived in the United States
for 30 years after his family came as undocumented immigrants from
Mexico, was ordered to return to Mexico in November.
Garcia had been
facing an order of removal since 2009, but had received extensions under
the Obama administration. Because of the Trump administration’s
crackdown on undocumented immigrants, Garcia was ordered to return to
Mexico.
The Garcia family said they pleaded with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) to extend his time in the hopes that a new Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) law — one without an age limit —
would be put in place to make him eligible. The ICE officials finally
said that because there was no DACA law currently in place, Jorge Garcia
had to leave the country.
The video of the Garcia’s painful goodbye, supervised by Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement officials, went viral on Monday. Garcia’s
wife, Cindy Garcia told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that she wants President Trump
to know that her husband is “not a criminal.”
“Yes, he was brought here at 10 years old and yes, he entered the
country illegally, but he has no criminal record and his case needs to
be looked at individually because he deserves to be here in a country
that he’s known — not Mexico,” she said.
Cindy Garcia tells her kids to be strong and that they are not the only family out there facing this situation.
“It affects 11 million other people, but at least I can come forward
and tell my story because I am a US citizen and I do not have to hide in
any shadows,” she said.
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