Three from Gomez family deported
Posted on Tue, Oct. 30, 2007
BY CASEY WOODS
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com


Brothers Juan and Alex Gomez bid wrenching goodbyes to their parents and grandmother Tuesday afternoon at the Miami International Airport as the three were deported to their native Colombia.

The family was ordered deported on July 25, but a passionate lobbying campaign by Juan's high school classmates got them the backing of South Florida lawmakers, who helped them get a temporary stay of deportation.

For the brother's parents Julio and Liliana and 85-year-old grandmother Carmen, time ran out Tuesday.

''I'm feeling such a tremendous pain, because I don't know what's going to happen to us,'' Liliana Gomez said as she wept in the check-in line. ``I don't know when I'm going to see my sons again.''

Juan, 18, and Alex, 19, were granted more time. Rep. Lincoln DÃ*az-Balart, R-Miami, filed a private bill in Congress that, if passed, would allow the brothers -- but not their parents -- to remain in the United States. They will be allowed to stay while the bill is pending.

The family came to South Florida in 1991, when the brothers were toddlers. Juan is a Killian High School honors graduate now attending Miami Dade College Honors College. Alex also is a student at MDC.