Too Old For DACA

Too old for DACA, man who spent 30 years of his life in the U.S. is deported

(Detroit Free Press)

His arms wrapped around his wife and two teenage children, Jorge Garcia’s eyes welled up Monday as he looked into their eyes one last time near the entrance to the airport security gate.

His wife, Cindy Garcia, cried out while his daughter, Soleil, 15, sobbed into Garcia’s shoulder as they hugged, with two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents keeping a close eye on them.

After 30 years of living in the United States, Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper from Lincoln Park, Mich., was deported on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to Mexico, a move his supporters say is another example of immigrants, unfairly targeted under the Trump administration.

An undocumented family member brought Jorge Garcia to the U.S. when he was ten years old. Today he has a wife and two children, all of whom are U.S. citizens.

Jorge Garcia had been facing an order of removal from immigration courts since 2009, but under the previous administration, he had received stays of removal. Because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, in November, Jorge Garcia was ordered to return to Mexico.

His supporters say he has no criminal record – not even a traffic ticket – and pays taxes every year.