The family of a Manassas, Virginia, woman who was taken into Immigration and Custody Enforcement custody, deported to Guatemala and brought back to the U.S., remains in limbo, as she continues to be detained after requesting to leave the country.
Jhoan Mesen, husband to Claudia Alvarenga España, told WTOP he has not seen his wife since the day before she was arrested during an ICE check-in more than a month ago.
The couple lived with their four children in Manassas, where the mother worked at the Georgetown South Community Center.
Since her detainment on June 3, the family has grown “anxious” to see her.
“She called me before going into that hearing saying she was nervous,” Mesen told WTOP’s José Umaña in Spanish. “After that, the signal went down, and I never heard back from her.”
Accidental deportation
Alvarenga España first arrived into the U.S. in 2010 as a 17-year-old, after being abused by a partner and human trafficked, attorney Lisa Shea, of Immigrants First, told WTOP on June 20. She was caught when entering the country and deported.
She reentered in January 2011 and was allowed to stay under an “order of supervision,” requiring her to have regular check-ins with ICE, Shea said. She also received a work permit.
This year, Alvarenga España attempted to apply for a withholding of removal, which is an alternative form of asylum protection for immigrants who fear persecution in their home country.
As the process started, she was taken into custody on June 3, when she attended a required ICE office check-in in Chantilly.
As attorneys tried to file a temporary restraining order to stop the deportation, immigration officials sent her to Louisiana. On June 10, Alvarenga España was sent Guatemala.
But a day before she was moved to Guatemala, a judge ruled that she “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order.”
Alvarenga España spoke to her husband, and both agreed on her returning to the U.S., in the hopes she would be released when fighting her case. After spending over 90 minutes in the Central American country, she was returned to the U.S. to receive her reasonable fear interview to determine whether she would persecuted if sent back to Guatemala.
Shea said she passed her interview and was set to go in front of an immigration judge for a court hearing. Had she continued further and was granted the withholding of removal claim, Alvarenga España would have been permitted to stay in the U.S. and be released.
Instead, Alvarenga España has requested to be deported back to Guatemala. She has remained in ICE detention in Texas since being brought back to the U.S. and has only been able to communicate with her family via phone calls.
Mesen said his wife is choosing to return to Guatemala to be reunited with her family faster and the unknown length of fighting her case. Their youngest children, a 2-year-old and an 8-year old boy, have struggled without seeing their mother, he said, adding that Alvarenga España has a thyroid condition that she is struggling to manage while detained.
“She was the head of the home, and she kept care of that child every day,” he said. “Babies are babies, and they need care.”
Ishan Anand, of Immigration First, told WTOP that Alvarenga España should be in Guatemala by now. Letters of release have been sent on her behalf to ICE and Homeland Security officials requesting her deportation.
“We sent a letter of release to ICE,” Anand said. “We sent the letter of release to the officer. We sent a release to the council, telling them that they need to go (with the request).”
An ICE spokesperson told WTOP Alvarenga España’s case is in removal proceedings at this time.
A longer wait to leave
Since his wife’s decision, Mesen told WTOP the family has put their Northern Virginia home for sale and began packing to reunite with her in Central America. All four children’s passports are in process to be put together, and once their mother is finally deported, they will be sent out a week later.
After the home is sold, Mesen will join his family together in his home country of Costa Rica. He said the family hopes the process only lasts one or two more weeks.
Attorneys at Immigrant First said the consulates of Guatemala and Costa Rica are helping the family with their requests.
“I’m just very anxious for this process to end,” Mesen said. “That is the only light we see out of this situation.”
Mesen has known Alvarenga España since arriving to the U.S. calling her “brave” and saying she always fights for herself. They have lived together for five years, with Mesen crediting her for keeping the household together while working at the same time.
“It hurts me a lot … everything we built together was because of her,” he said. “And now as a couple, it’s up to me to close everything up.”
Mesen acknowledges that he is leaving a country that gave him a lot of opportunities to work and establish his family. However, he said Alvarenga España’s situation has left a “bad taste” for the U.S. personally, in the way his family and other immigrants have been treated.
“We are a people that come here to work and leave our home countries that are going through difficult situations,” Mesen said. “There isn’t much opportunities there … We are just looking for a better future for ourselves and our kids.”
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