Thread: Girl records ICE arresting her immigrant father in California

Mar 3, 2017, 12:31 PM ET
Morgan Winsor

A girl recorded federal immigration agents arresting her father, an unauthorized immigrant, as he was driving her to school in Los Angeles this week.

Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, 48, was about to drop his daughters off at Academia Avance charter school in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday when he was stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents clad in police jackets.

One of his daughters, 13-year-old Fatima Avelica, used her cellphone to capture the moment authorities handcuffed her father and placed him in a dark-colored vehicle.

The cellphone video has been shared hundreds of times on social media. ABC station KABC in Los Angeles obtained the footage and spoke with another of the man’s daughters, Brenda Avelica, who said her father has been in the U.S. for two decades and has four children, two of whom are now adults.

"It's really hard what we're going through," Brenda Avelica told KABC on Thursday. "I never thought we'd actually go through something like this. It's terrible to feel and see your family being broken apart."

ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice confirmed to ABC News that officers with one of the agency’s Los Angeles-based fugitive operations teams took Avelica-Gonzalez into custody during a vehicle stop Tuesday morning.

“Mr. Avelica was targeted for arrest because relevant databases indicate he has multiple prior criminal convictions, including a DUI in 2009, as well an outstanding order of removal dating back to 2014,” Kice said in a statement to ABC News today. “After conducting surveillance to confirm his identity, the officers arrested Mr. Avelica during a vehicle stop in the 3200 block of Pasadena Avenue, approximately a half mile from the charter school described in the related social media post.”

The father remains in ICE custody at this time, according to Kice.

Ricardo Mireles, executive director of Academia Avance charter school, gathered about two dozen people outside the Hollenbeck community police station in Los Angeles on Thursday to show support for the family.

"I think the impacts are going to come in terms of, 'Hey, how do we pay the rent? And how do we move forward?'" Mireles told KABC. "We want to be able to find resources to help this family go through this process."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-record...ry?id=45885738

You don't have to pay the rent

you need to pack a suitcase and meet your father in Mexico.

Adios amigo!

March 13, 2017 6:15 PM

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Dozens of people gathered outside the federal courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles Monday rallying to keep an illegal immigrant father in the country.

Jocelyn Avelica’s words provided the emotional backdrop as she read a statement from her father on a loud speaker.

Romulo Avelica was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 2 in Highand Park after he dropped off one of his four daughters at school. His daughter recorded the arrest on her cell phone and the video went viral.

ICE officials say the 48-year-old restaurant worker was taken into custody because a removal order had been issued in 2014 calling for him to be deported.

Immigration sources say Avelica had three misdemeanor criminal convictions on his record, the most recent was a DUI.

“I cried,” daughter Brenda Avelica said. “It’s not easy to see your father in that situation and getting taken away.”

His supporters are calling for his release immediately so that he could be reunited with his family while his case is fought out in court.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/...igrant-father/

Lawyers Try New Legal Tactics to Free Father Detained by ICE in Highland Park After He Dropped Off Daughter at School

POSTED 4:56 AM, JUNE 5, 2017, BY LOS ANGELES TIMES, UPDATED AT 09:42AM, JUNE 5, 2017

Lawyers for a father detained by immigration officials after dropping off his child at school are trying new legal tactics in hopes of winning his release.

They want to get the decade-old misdemeanor conviction that prompted his arrest wiped from his record, believing it will strengthen his case.

Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, 49, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States for 25 years, has remained in immigration detention for more than three months. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled him over and detained him in Highland Park, six blocks from his 12-year-old daughter’s Lincoln Heights school and minutes after he had dropped her off. Another daughter in the car with him, now 14, sobbed as she filmed the encounter. –

Avelica-Gonzalez at the time had two misdemeanor convictions. One was for a DUI in 2008. Another was for receipt of stolen property when a friend gave him a vehicle registration tag not issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Before 2015, immigrants living in California illegally were ineligible for driver’s licenses, a requirement for registering a vehicle.

http://ktla.com/2017/06/05/lawyers-t...ter-at-school/

The title of this article is intentionally misleading to try to gain sympathy. The word "immigrant" should be replaced with the word "illegal alien". Illegal aliens are NOT immigrants. They are ILLEGAL ALIENS. There's a huge difference between the two. Media, stop trying to deceive by manipulating the wording of your biased articles.