By Luis Uribe
August 7, 2009
The Latin American Herald Tribune
LOS ANGELES – A Hispanic migrant who has lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States for 18 years will be sent back to his homeland “without any valid reason” in less than 30 days, said the March 25 Coalition, which has called for a halt to deportations.
Jose Villanueva arrived in the United States in 1991 to escape the civil war then raging in his native Guatemala and was granted conditional asylum. His wife, Leticia, arrived 10 years ago and the couple now has two daughters, ages 8 and 10 months.
“I just ask that they not deport him. He’s been working the whole time, he’s paid his taxes and has no problems with the law,” Leticia Villanueva told Efe outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles while feeding her baby.
“They say there are no guerrillas in Guatemala, but there are (violent youth) gangs and the crime problem is very bad. They kill you for 2 quetzals (25 cents),” she said.
Representatives of the March 25 Coalition and the Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional (Transnational Mexican Association), accompanied by community leaders, staged a protest Tuesday outside the Federal Building to denounce “the arbitrary nature of this case.”
“This is extremely regrettable. Insofar as immigration under the Obama administration, the administration of “hope and change,” we’re still waiting for that change,” Javier Rodriguez, the coalition’s director, told Efe.
“The only thing we’ve seen is that there are no longer any raids, but in a certain sense things have gotten worse,” he said. “The raids (are being substituted by) E-Verify,” he said, referring to a voluntary government-run program – expanding under Obama – that is designed to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the country.
Villanueva was unable to take part Tuesday in the protest because he was working.
“Since he’s had to miss a lot of work because of immigration-related matters, today they didn’t give him permission,” Leticia Villanueva said, adding that her husband has worked in different areas of the construction business during his entire time in the United States.
“They’re applying the strategy that (former President George W.) Bush applied in 2006 after the marches: the carrot and the stick. They’re beating us up so that we surrender politically and accept whatever they give us,” Rodriguez said, referring to Obama’s pledge during his campaign to make immigration reform a priority.
As a senator, Obama supported a bill that would have put many illegal immigrants on a path to legalization, instituted a guest worker program and strengthened border security, but the legislation was derailed in the summer of 2007.
Rodriguez also said that – “due to the same government pressure tactics” – close to 1,800 workers at American Apparel, a California company that has actively supported immigration reform, could lose their jobs.
“I just don’t want them to deport my dad. I feel very sad because they’re taking him away for no reason. He’s working very well and hard here and they want to send him far away,” Michelle Villanueva said.
“This is alarming. We agree that criminals should be sanctioned and punished but not these families,” Gloria Saucedo, Hermandad Mexicana’s director, told Efe.
The activist said a very important message is being sent to Central Americans and Guatemalans in particular.
“That they shouldn’t relax because they have a work permit, political asylum, even if they’ve been renewing it for many years,” she said.
“Like what happened with this family that already paid $7,000 and now they face deportation. They had to post $500 bond so they gave him a period of one month. What’s going to happen with those 18 years of his life, of the effort he gave doing really tough jobs?” Saucedo asked rhetorically.
The Villanueva family, meanwhile, finds itself in desperate circumstances, lacking the money to pay their rent and facing the possibility of having to return to a country that is completely foreign to their children and that provides far fewer economic opportunities than the United States.
Michelle, who will start the third grade this month, said that when she grows up “I’m going to try to be president so they stop these things and the right decisions are made.” EFE
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