Thread: Hudson matriarch who fled El Salvador fights for U.S. residency

Hudson matriarch who fled El Salvador fights for U.S. residency

Updated 5:35 pm, Wednesday, March 8, 2017



Elsa Martinez is surrounded by family and friends as she reports to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Colonie on
Wednesday. (Skip Dicktein / Times Union)

Elsa Martinez came to the United States as a young woman with one dream: to live in a house.

"I didn't dream about a mansion. I dreamed about a house made of clay tiles and cement," Martinez said in Spanish. "I dreamed of making a home for my parents to live in and seeing my family do better."

Choking back tears, the 48-year-old mother of five smiled and said, "I achieved that. Thank God, I achieved that."

After spending her childhood running from El Salvador's civil war and her adulthood fighting deportation from the United States, Martinez won a small victory Wednesday afternoon: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told her she would not be detained at this time.

She emerged from the Department of Homeland Security building in Latham to applause from about 30 protesters and hugs from her family members, who live in Hudson.

"My life is here in the U.S.A. and I've been here for 27 years," Martinez told the crowd in English. "I live with my family here."

Martinez came to the United States from El Salvador in the late 1980s without proper documentation and has been fighting her deportation since 1990, her 26-year-old daughter Gloria Martinez said. Her mother now has a work permit and is filing for temporary protective status, she said.

Calling her home country "terrible," Martinez said in English, "I come here for my dream."

When the civil war began in 1980, Martinez said she, her parents and eight siblings lived in poverty without a home.

"My father had served in the military and was persecuted," Martinez said in Spanish.

The conflict, which spanned 12 years, pitted the Salvadoran military government, which was allied with the United States, against leftist rebels. About 75,000 civilians died.

To stay safe, Martinez said her family hid in the countryside, slept outdoors and constantly moved place to place.

"Once we ate tortillas with salt because we had so little to eat," she said.

Now, in Hudson, Martinez owns a cleaning business and thrives as the single mom of five kids, all of them U.S. citizens who range from 17 years old to 26.

"What could they possibly gain from deporting her?" her 25-year-old son Nicholas Gonzalez said, describing his mom as a "church-going woman."

Residents, religious leaders, labor advocates and elected officials rallied outside the Troy-Schenectady Road federal facility while Martinez met inside with immigration officers Wednesday.

Protesters chanted and held signs that read, "No human being is illegal," "Keep Elsa and her family together" and "Proudly standing with immigrants."

At her last appointment, an immigration officer took her passport and told Martinez, "See, now I have your passport and can deport you at any time," her daughter Gloria said. On

Wednesday, she and her mother met with a supervisor, who explained that Martinez would not be deported and retaining her passport was standard procedure.

"They need to make sure they maintain a certain amount of control over the person, and by having their passport they basically know they are not going to be leaving," said Nicholas Tishler, the attorney who represented Martinez on Wednesday. The ICE supervisor met with Martinez to "reassure her," he said.

"This was a regular reporting appointment for Elsa. She's under an order of supervision and one of the requirements of that order is that she make regular reports to this particular office," the attorney said. "What they're trying to determine is that the person's address is current and the information that they've provided is correct. It's a status report."

Martinez's 17-year-old daughter Mariana Ramirez paced outside the Homeland Security building while her older sister Gloria accompanied their mother inside.

"I'm nervous and a little anxious," the teen said, propping her 1-year-old son DeAndre on her hip. "I'm still in school, so I depend on her." Mariana is expecting a second baby boy next month, and her mother supports her financially.

Martinez is the third member of her family recently embraced by the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and Albany New Sanctuary Movement.

Her brother Ramiro Martinez-Chacon was detained by immigration officers outside his Hudson home on Feb. 7 and is being held at the Rensselaer County jail on behalf of ICE.

An agency spokesman said Martinez-Chacon is facing criminal prosecution for re-entry after deportation, a federal felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, Ramiro was removed from the U.S. in December 2000 at Miami, Fla., and returned to the U.S. without permission. Relatives said Ramiro first arrived in the U.S. in the 1990s.

Gonzalez said his 12- and 6-year-old cousins are devastated by their father's detainment.

"They looked up to their dad," Gonzalez said. "He has his problems, but I know my uncle to be a good man."

Martinez-Chacon was one of about 600 undocumented immigrants detained across the country in early February during raids conducted by ICE. Several immigrants were detained in the Hudson Valley, federal officials confirmed.

Martinez-Chacon's wife, Maria de Jesus Canterero Mercado, met with federal agents about her own immigration status on March 2, as about 25 people from local sanctuary groups rallied outside the Latham government building.

De Jesus was deported to El Salvador in 2002 and she unlawfully returned, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said. De Jesus meets with immigration officials monthly to verify her whereabouts and activity. Supervisors told de Jesus on March 2 she would not be detained or deported at this time because she has two young sons who are U.S. citizens.

On Wednesday, Nicholas Gonzalez waited outside the Homeland Security building for Martinez to emerge and watched community members rally for his mom.

"We've never had this kind of support before," he said. "I've seen my mother struggle and this is probably the best thing I've seen from this experience."

http://www.timesunion.com/local/arti...s-10986574.php

De Jesus was deported to El Salvador in 2002 and she unlawfully returned, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said. De Jesus meets with immigration officials monthly to verify her whereabouts and activity. Supervisors told de Jesus on March 2 she would not be detained or deported at this time because she has two young sons who are U.S. citizens.

Returning illegally after deportation is a felony crime.

Get her out. We don't need illegal alien "matriarchs".

"Choking back tears, the 48-year-old mother of five smiled and said, "I achieved that. Thank God, I achieved that.""

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Another one with FIVE kids! Who paid for the birth of these "anchor babies"? Who paid for their school, medical, welfare and food stamps. More money out of taxpayer pockets.

Deport her, deport all of them and END the anchor baby scam now!

"De Jesus was deported to El Salvador in 2002 and she unlawfully returned, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said. De Jesus meets with immigration officials monthly to verify her whereabouts and activity. Supervisors told de Jesus on March 2 she would not be detained or deported at this time because she has two young sons who are U.S. citizens."

Ah, the rewards of having anchor babies. What a scam.

"Now, in Hudson, Martinez owns a cleaning business and thrives as the single mom of five kids, all of them U.S. citizens who range from 17 years old to 26."

More anchor babies.

"Martinez's 17-year-old daughter Mariana Ramirez paced outside the Homeland Security building while her older sister Gloria accompanied their mother inside.

"I'm nervous and a little anxious," the teen said, propping her 1-year-old son DeAndre on her hip. "I'm still in school, so I depend on her." Mariana is expecting a second baby boy next month, and her mother supports her financially."

A mother at 16. Don't they understand family planning?

I noticed each child has a different last name. Good "church going" people don't have 5 kids by 5 different fathers.

As an aside... she has a "thriving" business, how many Americans did she undercut to get that business? She owns a home, how much did American taxpayers "contribute" to her wonderful life?