After 29 Years In The US, A Hard Working Father Of 2 Was Deported To Mexico

After being in America for nearly 29 years, a father of two was forced to say goodbye to his wife and children as he was deported to Mexico on Monday, January 15th.

Jorge Garcia was brought to America by a relative when he was 10 years old. Monday, he was forced to leave due to being past the age for DACA.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It was a policy that let some immigrants that came into the United States as children, who had come to or stayed in the United States illegally, to be given a renewable term of action from being deported and to be able to obtain a permit for work. The period lasts for two years at a time.

In 2017, it was estimated that nearly 800,000 people, called Dreamers, were in the program. It was a policy established in June 2012 by President Obama. It was rescinded in September 2017 by President Trump.

Garcia, 39, looked lost and dejected as he held his wife and kids as ICE agents waited to escort him onto a plane and out of the states.

My thoughts & prayers for the two @ICEgov agents who decided to work on #MLKDay. Our nation is diminished today thanks to your heartless dedication. One day, #JorgeGarcia will be w/his family again but you will have to live with what you’ve done.
May God have mercy on your souls. pic.twitter.com/ETGyJX0DVL

— Erik Shelley (@EWShelley) January 16, 2018

Jorge Garcia is married to an American woman, and has a clean record. He worked as a landscaper in Michigan.

The scene in the Detroit Metro Airport was a somber one as his children, ages 12 and 15, cried in their father’s arms.

They fought long and hard to keep Jorge together with his family, but that fight ended this week.

Jorge was 2 years too old to have been helped by DACA. Many other undocumented immigrants in his same predicament have been able to utilize the program.

As this has been ongoing, ICE let him spend the holidays with his loved ones, but came to his home on a national holiday to remove him from his family and the country he has called home for most of his life.

Garcia’s wife, Cindy says she will keep doing what she has to do that she can reunite her family one day. There has been a GoFundMe page set up for the family, thanks to the help of Erik Shelley, to assist with legal fees while they fight the deportation.

The problems for this family began in 2005, when Jorge started taking steps to become legal. This is what drew ICE’s attention to him. Cindy says they have been dealing with the process of it all since then.

The initial lawyer they hired neglected to file the correct paperwork, and Garcia was warned to expect deportation back in 2009.

President Obama granted him a few stays so the family had time to work out a way for him to stay.

President Trump enacted a stricter policy and this led to Jorge’s deportation. Cindy blames her broken heart on Trump.

She says that Trump has destroyed life as she knows it. She lamented about her children having to say goodbye to their dad. She also said that they are in therapy and cry every morning before school.

She also points out that her husband has been in this country since he was a small child, and Mexico is a foreign land to him.

Jorge Garcia’s story makes him the latest face of what critics of the president say is the cruel, excessive attack on immigrants that are not documented.

Trump issued an executive order last year that widened deportation priorities. These priorities made all categories of immigrants susceptible to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trump and officials for the Department of Homeland Security insist the severe measures are necessary to protect the public and the security of the nation.

Just days before Garcia’s deportation, Trump made the statement referring to countries many immigrants come from as sh*tholes. This, along with other comments concerning immigration enforce the belief held by many that our president is racist.

There were protesters at the scene, there to support the Garcia family. They held up signs asking the government to stop breaking up families.

No comments were made concerning this case by ICE.