The wife of a man deported from the United States despite a clean criminal record says they have not received any calls or assistance from US government representatives since a video of their emotional goodbye went viral on Monday.
Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper and father of two who lived in the United States for 30 years, was deported to Mexico Monday morning. His family came as undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
On Wednesday, Garcia’s wife, Cindy, told CNN’s “New Day” that she had not heard anything from government officials about her husband’s case.
However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, brought up Garcia’s case with reporters on Tuesday.
“Now the young man that got deported yesterday, 39 years old, apparently wasn’t a felon. That’s something we need to look at,” Graham said.
Jorge Garcia said Graham’s comments gave him “a little bit more hope” that the case would be pursued.
“I didn’t go into the country by my choice. I was a kid,” he added.
The Garcia family said they pleaded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to extend his time in the hopes that a new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) law — one without an age limit — would be put in place to make him eligible.
“Mr. Jorge Garcia-Martinez, an unlawfully present citizen of Mexico, was ordered removed by an immigration judge in June 2006,” ICE spokesperson Khaalid Walls, told CNN in a statement, later noting that “ICE does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”
Garcia had been facing an order of removal for years, but had received extensions under the Obama administration. Because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, Garcia was ordered to return to Mexico in November.
“We knew that maybe one day this was going to happen, but it has happened and it’s horrible,” Cindy Garcia told “New Day.”