The couple deported to Colombia after 35 years in the US
Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez were arrested on February 21 despite having three American daughters and a clean criminal record
A routine visit to immigration authorities became the turning point for the González family in the United States. Gladys and Nelson’s story in the country has come to an end after 35 years. The couple has been swallowed by the deportation machine that the Trump administration set in motion after taking office. It mattered little that Nelson and Gladys had a long history in California, three American daughters, and a clean criminal record. Now, they must start from scratch in Colombia, the country they left decades ago to begin a life in Laguna Niguel, south of Los Angeles.
The couple were sent back on Tuesday night, March 18. “They arrived in Colombia together and are doing well,” said Stephanie González, 27, one of the couple’s three daughters. She and her sisters — Gabby, 23, and Jessica, 33 — closely followed their parent’s ordeal in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. “We are thankful this nightmare is over, while at the same time grieving the reality that our parents will not be coming home anytime soon,” said Stephanie.
The González family’s long road to “freedom” began on February 21, the day they were detained and transferred to a private immigration jail in San Bernardino. “They handcuffed their wrists and ankles, as if they were criminals,” Stephanie told local television. According to Stephanie, Gladys, a 55-year-old homemaker, and Nelson, a 59-year-old laboratory employee, went to the ICE offices to gain some certainty about their status in the United States, something they did periodically. “The only thing they were told was that they had exhausted their stay. This, despite the fact that they managed to extend their permit to be in the country every year and that they are law-abiding citizens who have never hidden from the authorities,” said Stephanie.
The daughters didn’t hear from their parents for two weeks, until they were finally allowed to communicate. It was then that they learned Gladys and Nelson had been taken to detention centers. Their deep faith was key. “No matter where my parents are, they are choosing to be used by God,” Stephanie wrote in the GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, explaining that the two were both leading Bible readings in detention.
As time passed, however, the González family began to come to terms with the fact that uniting again would be difficult, if not impossible. Although the Trump administration promised to focus on detaining the most violent criminals, the reality is very different. ICE agents have targeted practically anyone who has entered the country irregularly, regardless of their criminal background.
This is the case of the González family, who entered the United States by land in 1989 at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, and allowed their visas to expire. In 2000, a judge ruled that there was no legal basis for the González family to remain in the U.S. and offered them the option of self-deportation. The family maintains that, for decades, they did everything they could to appeal and regularize their status, but were unsuccessful.
“After talking to over 30 attorneys, the best thing we can do right now is help our parents prepare for a new life in Colombia,” Stephanie said in an updated to the crowdfunding appeal, which has more than 500 donors and raised more than $62,000.
After the San Bernardino jail, Glady and Nelson González were taken separately to another center in Arizona earlier this month. They stayed there only briefly. Communication between the couple and their daughters was cut off, and the girls assumed the authorities had moved them again. They were right. On March 13, Nelson and Gladys arrived at their final destination in the United States: the Louisiana detention center, which has become the main hub for Trump’s deportations and where other high-profile cases have ended up, such as pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil or the Georgetown academic deported for his Palestinian ties.
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