In Connecticut, a father of two U.S.-born children faces deportation to Guatemala in 10 days.
Joel and Samantha Colindres met with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty, D-CT5, who wrote a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.
Esty says she heard from ICE on Monday that Colindres may get to make his case that he fears violent retribution after the murder of a family member back in Guatemala. “That’s a very serious claim," Esty says, adding that he's also married to a U.S. citizen.
“They have two children born here in the United States. He has been here, abided by all the laws, been a productive citizen in everything but actual fact. He’d like the opportunity to prove that claim, and to prove as well as the risk to him and the ripping apart of his family. And that’s what we’re asking for is that opportunity.”
Colindres never had an immigration hearing. ICE issued him a deportation order after missing a court date in 2004 due to lost mail. He had been checking in with ICE regularly in recent years and had been allowed to stay with his family. This year he was ordered to buy a plane ticket and leave the country by August 17.
Two other Connecticut parents without criminal backgrounds have received similar deportation orders this summer.