Thread: Iowa City pastor arrested on federal immigration charges

Once the court gets involved I.C.E. can't deport anyone until a judge issues an order of deportation. As soon as an attorney files an appeal the hole thing is on hold until the appeal is heard. The courts are backlogged so the immigration attorneys use the appeal process as a stall to keep the person in the country as long as possible. Then the tell the court, "You let them stay here for x numbers of years and it would be cruel to sent them home now." They need more judges to clear the backlog and get the system back on track so it doesn't take years to get rid of them.

THE LATEST NEWS ON IOWA PASTOR MAX VILLATORO, WHO FACES DEPORTATION TO HONDURAS AT ANY MOMENT

by Gabe Ortiz on 03/16/2015 at 12:46pm

Here’s what we know so far about Max Villatoro, a beloved pastor facing imminent deportation from his Iowa home of more than two decades:

Late last Friday we learned that during the dead of night, Pastor Max was transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. Louisiana is commonly the last U.S. stop before detained immigrants are deported from the country

— and Pastor Max’s wife Gloria and their four children are fearing the worst.

This is all despite national rallies and more than 40,000 petitions to ICE demanding Pastor Max’s release. In fact, Gloria believes, ICE officials have speeded up Max’s deportation in response to the overwhelming backlash from the community.

As a result, Gloria and her four U.S. citizen children have taken their pleas directly to President Barack Obama in an emotional, video testimony:

“I need my husband back. My kids need their dad. I’m so scared, I don’t know what I’m going to be doing without him. I’m scared for his life, too.

Because if he’s taken to…if he’s sent to Honduras, he fears for his life.

I need your help tonight. I ask you for mercy. I ask you that you please give me my husband back. You can use your authority. And I ask you to please have mercy and do something about it.”

Fellow members of their Iowa community, including faith leaders, educators, and friends, have also started filming their own appeals to the President to halt Pastor Max’s deportation. All of the videos are available for viewing and sharing here.

http://americasvoice.org/blog/the-la...at-any-moment/

Deportation of Iowa City pastor moving forward

By Erin Jordan, The Gazette

Max Villatoro, 41, of Iowa City, was arrested March 3 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Story Created: Mar 16, 2015 at 2:02 PM CDT
Story Updated: Mar 16, 2015 at 2:02 PM CDT

IOWA CITY — The federal government denied a request Monday to halt the deportation of an Iowa City pastor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement turned down a stay of removal for Max Villatoro, 41, said his attorney, Dan Vondra, of Iowa City.

The Honduras native could be deported any time.

“We can still ask for an order of supervision,” Vondra said Monday. This would allow Villatoro, now being housed at an ICE facility in Louisiana, to come back to Iowa City temporarily before traveling to Honduras. But these requests are seldom granted, Vondra said.

“Now’s the time for the family and the community to decide what they want to do,” he said.

Villatoro was arrested March 3 as part of a national sweep of more than 2,000 unauthorized immigrants convicted of crimes.

He was convicted in 1999 of drunken driving and tampering with records. Since then, he’s gotten married, fathered four children and become a Mennonite pastor with a Spanish-speaking congregation in Iowa City. More than 40,000 people nationwide have signed a petition trying to stop his deportation.

Gloria Villatoro, Max’s wife, posted a video plea Sunday night.
“I need my husband back, my kids need their dad,” she said on the video, surrounded by Anthony, 15, Edna, 13, Angela, 10, and Aileen, 7.

“I’m so scared, I don’t know what I’m going to be doing without him. I’m scared for his life too, because if he’s taken to — if he’s sent to Honduras, he’s in fear for his life,” Gloria Villatoro said.

Max Villatoro, who left Honduras in 1995, has no support network there and would be a target for kidnapping by criminals seeking ransom, Vondra said. Often deportees arrive in their native country with just a 40-pound suitcase.

Villatoro was convicted in 1999 in Johnson County of drunken driving and in Muscatine County of tampering with records for using a false ID to get a driver’s license. Villatoro was sentenced to two years’ probation for the records charge, an aggravated misdemeanor. The drunken driving charge is no longer listed on Iowa Courts Online, but is in FBI reports included in the deportation file, Vondra said.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted Villatoro a work permit in 2005 or 2006, while his case was pending, Vondra said.

Max and Gloria Villatoro lived in Muscatine until 2009 when they moved their family to Iowa City to start a Spanish-speaking congregation. Their children are U.S. citizens.

The federal government notified Villatoro in 2013 that he would be deported, a decision the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in July.

A stay of removal would have allowed Villatoro to stay in the United States temporarily. When Anthony Villatoro turns 21, he could apply for legal permanent residency for his father, provided Gloria Villatoro has her legal permanent status by that time.

Gloria Villatoro, a Mexico native living legally in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, would not want to travel to Honduras because she might have trouble getting back, Vondra said.

Read more at http://www.kcrg.com/subject/news/dep...hvhmI2j7imu.99

Originally Posted by MW

In the article it states his wife is a native of Mexico. I think we all know what the means. Yep, she's an illegal too and has 3 anchor babies, which are drawing welfare (food stamps, medicaid, etc.), to boot.

Looks like she's a DACA.
" . . . Gloria Villatoro, a Mexico native living legally in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, would not want to travel to Honduras because she might have trouble getting back, Vondra said."

Read more at http://www.kcrg.com/subject/news/dep...hvhmI2j7imu.99

Iowa pastor expects to be deported on Tuesday

Published 4:27 PM CDT Mar 16, 2015




DES MOINES, Iowa —An Iowa pastor and father of four facing deportation for a 17-year-old conviction has been relocated to a Louisiana detention center, where officials say a flight returning deportees to Honduras is scheduled Tuesday.

Forty-one-year-old Max Villatoro informed his wife Monday that he will likely be onboard.

Villatoro was among 2,059 people arrested during a nationwide operation targeting convicted criminals living in the country illegally. A 1998 drunken driving conviction classified him as an enforcement priority.

Lawyers say federal immigration authorities denied Villatoro's stay of removal request, reinforcing his imminent removal.

An official with the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana, confirmed Tuesday's flight.

Meanwhile, Villatoro's wife has made one last plea to keep her family together through a YouTube video asking President Barack Obama to block the deportation.

http://www.kcci.com/news/iowa-pastor...esday/31831314

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

THE LATEST NEWS ON IOWA PASTOR MAX VILLATORO, WHO FACES DEPORTATION TO HONDURAS AT ANY MOMENT

by Gabe Ortiz on 03/16/2015 at 12:46pm

Here’s what we know so far about Max Villatoro, a beloved pastor facing imminent deportation from his Iowa home of more than two decades:

Late last Friday we learned that during the dead of night, Pastor Max was transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. Louisiana is commonly the last U.S. stop before detained immigrants are deported from the country

— and Pastor Max’s wife Gloria and their four children are fearing the worst.

This is all despite national rallies and more than 40,000 petitions to ICE demanding Pastor Max’s release. In fact, Gloria believes, ICE officials have speeded up Max’s deportation in response to the overwhelming backlash from the community.

As a result, Gloria and her four U.S. citizen children have taken their pleas directly to President Barack Obama in an emotional, video testimony:

“I need my husband back. My kids need their dad. I’m so scared, I don’t know what I’m going to be doing without him. I’m scared for his life, too.

Because if he’s taken to…if he’s sent to Honduras, he fears for his life.

I need your help tonight. I ask you for mercy. I ask you that you please give me my husband back. You can use your authority. And I ask you to please have mercy and do something about it.”

Fellow members of their Iowa community, including faith leaders, educators, and friends, have also started filming their own appeals to the President to halt Pastor Max’s deportation. All of the videos are available for viewing and sharing here.

http://americasvoice.org/blog/the-la...at-any-moment/

Why would her husband "fear for his life"? Why aren't you going with him and taking your kids? What is wrong with you people? You are the strangest group of lawbreakers and criminals our country has ever had to put up with.

These people aren't DREAMers, they're whiners and users. So how many of her kids were born with Medicaid funding? All four? Outrageous!!

DHS is messing with this guy to create positive propoganda for immigration reform amnesty.. Meanwhile DHS continues to allow felons to walk out of US jails back on to US streets to victimize more Americans without deportation. Yet, they go after the pastor with 4 kids for a 17 year old record.

This is a case of Obama using law enforcement as a political tool once again just like one would expect from a Stalinist.

W

I'm not touched by the age of his record or his Pastor work. He's an illegal alien who shouldn't be in this country, his wife is an illegal alien who shouldn't be in this country and their 4 children shouldn't be US citizens. Under US immigration law and the 14th Amendment, they all need to be deported along with every other illegal alien. What Obama is doing is trying to prioritize enforcement of US immigration law and deportations based on our criminal law. That's wrong. An illegal alien is an illegal alien whether they've been caught committing other crimes or not. Enforcement of US immigration law has nothing to do with our criminal law, it has to do with population, jobs, Medicaid, welfare, tax credits, education, health care, space, supply and demand, culture, politics, natural resources and domestic tranquility.

This massive immigration has adversely impacted all of these important issues for our country, and the only way to fix it is to remove those who aren't supposed to be here and pass a Moratorium on New Immigration for at least 10 years to give our country time to recover from all the ill effects this massive immigration has generated.

Attorney: Pastor Max Villatoro deported to Honduras

Holly Hines, hhines2@press-citizen.com
1:54 p.m. CDT March 20, 2015


(Photo: Special to the Press-Citizen)

Max Villatoro, a pastor at First Mennonite Church and a married father of four, was deported Friday to Honduras, confirmed his attorney, David Leopold.

Leopold said he received a message from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at about 1 p.m. Friday letting him know that a plane transporting Villatoro had landed overseas.

Leopold, of Ohio, said he spoke briefly with Villatoro after he landed, and that Villatoro confirmed he was physically safe.

He said he was shocked to learn Villatoro, who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years, had been "ripped away" from his family.

"It's just absolutely mind-boggling," Leopold said.

Villatoro was arrested outside his home in Iowa City on March 3 during a nationwide sweep by ICE that targeted convicted criminals living in the country illegally.

Villatoro, 41, came to the United States from Honduras in 1995. Villatoro was convicted in 1999 in Johnson County for drunken driving and in Muscatine County for using a fake name while trying to obtain a state ID, and served a suspended sentence.

Attorney Dan Vondra of Iowa City said earlier this week that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had granted Villatoro a work permit about 10 years ago that was valid until he was arrested. Villatoro was notified when a "Final Removal Order" was issued in 2013.

For the past five years, Villatoro and his wife, Gloria, have led Torre Fuerte, a Spanish-speaking congregation, at the First Mennonite Church in Iowa City.

Gloria Villatoro, a native of Mexico, is living legally in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. His children are all legal citizens.

A statement from ICE, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, said the department is "focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of convicted criminals and public safety threats. The agency exercises prosecutor discretion, on a case-by-case basis, as necessary to focus resources on these priorities."

Two hundred demonstrators gathered

Tuesday at the pedestrian mall in downtown Iowa City for a rally called March with Max's Family, a demonstration aimed at demanding Villatoro's release and raising awareness about families affected by deportation.

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/n...rted/25092073/

For the past five years, Villatoro and his wife, Gloria, have led Torre Fuerte, a Spanish-speaking congregation, at the First Mennonite Church in Iowa City.

Iowa City must have a lot of Spanish-speaking illegal aliens to fill up a fringe congregation church of the Mennonite religion.