Daughters Work to Bring Deported Father Back to the Ozarks
Reported by: Carlos Correa
Saturday, Aug 9, 2008 @04:44pm CST

Every family has at least one person who serves as the glue, holding everyone together.

One Ozarks family has been ripped apart- and now they're fighting to get back someone they've lost.

Maria Rodriguez a reunion with her father can't come quickly enough.

"He was always working to provide for us and always gave us what we needed," said 20-year-old Maria Rodriguez.

But just a few months ago, he was deported. Juan Rodriguez was a beloved soccer coach in Springfield.

"He got pulled over for a traffic ticket. He thought it was supposed to be taken care of, but it apparently wasn't. So they said he had a warrant for his arrest and they took him to jail over night," she said.

Her father spent two weeks inside a jail cell until immigration officers sent him back to his homeland.

"It's hard. He's always been with us. He's always been by our side and to not have him here is really heart breaking and really hard to do," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez lived in the U.S. for 30 years and spent 9 years of them raising his children in the Ozarks.

"I was always daddies little girl and did everything. He probably was my best friend. I would go bowling with him on Friday nights and I would prefer that than doing a bunch of crazy high school stuff," said Gabriella Rodriguez, a high school senior in Springfield.

Gabriella Rodriguez says her father always provided for them and now they're doing everything they can to help bring him back home.

"It's like your daily routine, talking to him and him being there. All of sudden, now he's not there and it's like what do I do? We go longer periods without talking and whenever we do it's always sad and we say to each other 'I miss you," she said.

Both girls rely on friends and other family members to help them get through every day's struggles.

Together with several members of their father's soccer team -- the girls plan to raise enough money to begin the proper paperwork to get their father back.
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