Springfield father who entered country illegally 18 years ago facing deportation beca
Springfield father who entered country illegally 18 years ago facing deportation because of President Trump's policy changes
Updated on September 15, 2017 at 12:31 PM Posted on September 15, 2017 at 9:45 AM
By Dan Glaun
Lucio Enrique Perez Ortiz, a Springfield father of three and a Guatemalan immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally 18 years ago, rose to his feet Thursday afternoon in the fluorescent-lit waiting room of the Department of Homeland Security office on the fifth floor of Hartford's federal court building.
Eleven Western Massachusetts clergy and activists stood with him, asked him to lead a prayer, and bowed their heads.
"What god teaches us is to be brave," Perez said in Spanish, translated by an activist with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center. "This is what he sends your way. You have to struggle."
A clergy member began to sing. A door clicked open, and a homeland security duty officer ushered him and ACLU Immigrant Protection Project attorney Rachel Weber into an office.
Since 2009, when he was first picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Perez' deportation had been stayed as long as he checked in with immigration officials; now, he had been ordered to buy a one-way plane ticket to Guatemala and use it in October. He was in Hartford to meet with DHS and be fitted for an ankle bracelet, which would track his movements until his deportation date.
The door opened again, and Perez and Weber emerged. Perez' supporters peppered the DHS official with questions, which he fielded with a clipped politeness.
What were the chances of Perez' ongoing appeal of his deportation, one asked; the official was not his case officer and couldn't say, but assured them that his family circumstances would be taken into account. Had DHS received Perez' letter of support from Sen. Ed Markey? If so, the officer had not seen it.
Rose Bookbinder, an organizer with the Workers Center, wanted to know why Perez, and why now. He had been allowed to stay in the country for eight years under ICE supervision; he had no other criminal record, she said; what had changed?
The answer? President Donald Trump's White House, which had abolished the previous system for allowing stays for low-priority unauthorized immigrants, the DHS duty officer said.
"That's because of the new administration," the officer said. "He wasn't a priority before."
Perez was walked out of the building and down the street by two officers to a nearby office of GEO Group, a private prison company that provides detention and corrections services for DHS. He was taken inside to receive his ankle bracelet; Weber was not allowed in the room with him, she said.
Perez left Guatemala in 1999 to flee violence and seek economic opportunity, the Pioneer Valley Workers Center said in a press release. He married and had three children, who are U.S. citizens, and works as a landscaper.
In 2009, he and his wife were stopped by West Hartford police after they briefly left their children in the car to pick up drinks at a coffee shop, according to the Workers Center. The child abandonment charges were quickly dropped, but police had notified ICE of his arrest.
Perez was issued a deportation order, but granted a series of stays, allowing him to stay in the country as long as he regularly checked in with authorities. This summer, his stay was denied and he was ordered to appear before DHS on Sept. 14 with a plane ticket to Guatemala in hand.
His attorney has filed appeals with the Bureau of Immigration Appeals and ICE. If those are denied, he will be ordered to use that ticket on October 19.
DHS did not immediately return a request for comment.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.s...o_entered.html
