An Orange County couple who got here to the U.S. with out authorization some 35 years in the past, raised three daughters and now have a brand new grandson had been deported to Colombia earlier this week, based on media studies.
Nelson Gonzalez, 59, and his spouse Gladys Gonzalez, 55, initially entered the states close to San Ysidro earlier than in the end settling in Laguna Niguel and beginning their household.
Whereas the couple tried quite a few authorized avenues to stay within the nation through the years, together with appeals to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers, the Ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals and the Board of Immigration Appeals, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed The Orange County Register that the Gonzalez’s had “exhausted all authorized choices to stay within the U.S. between March 2000 and August 2021,” and had been in the end in violation of immigration regulation.
Their three daughters, Gabby, 23, Jessica, 33, and Stephanie, 27, all U.S. residents, informed KTLA that they had been devastated once they realized their mother and father had been detained on Feb. 21 throughout an everyday check-in with U.S. immigration officers.
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez are seen with their household. (Gonzalez Household)
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez are pictured with their three daughters (Gonzalez Household)
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez are pictured collectively and with their grandson. (Gonzalez Household)
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez moved to the U.S. from Colombia and raised a household in Orange County, California. (Gonzalez Household)
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez are pictured with their grandson. (Gonzalez Household)
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez are seen with their three daughters and younger grandson (heart). (Gonzalez Household)
“They had been put into handcuffs by their wrists and ankles and handled as criminals earlier than getting to those detention facilities,” Stephanie Gonzalez informed KTLA. “All they stated is that they prolonged their keep, despite the fact that yearly they’ve had permission to be right here and so they’re law-abiding residents who present up and are doing their responsibility to test in with immigration and say, ‘Hey I’m right here. I’m not hiding or doing something flawed.’ Then they only arrested them like that.”
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Gladys and Nelson, neither of whom have a prison file, had been initially held on the Adelanto Detention Heart in San Bernardino County earlier than being transferred to a facility in Arizona and later Louisiana.
Stephanie informed The Register that although her mother and father have been traumatized by every little thing that’s transpired, they’re grateful to now not be in detention facilities and have made contact with household in Colombia who’re serving to them begin a brand new life.
The 2 youthful sisters, Gabby and Stephanie, are at the moment dwelling with Jessica and her husband in Newport Seashore, and all have plans to go to their mother and father throughout the coming weeks.
Members of the family additionally acknowledged they’re one among many who’ve been affected by President Donald Trump and his administration’s purpose of ramping up arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants all through the U.S.
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