Augusto Raymundo Jesus was sent to his native Guatemala Tuesday night, deported because he became entangled in a legal nightmare after his political asylum visa unknowingly expired. He didn't know the document had expired until he applied for U.S. citizenship. By that time, he had a wife and kids, including a baby diagnosed with autism.
He lived, worked, raised a family as a vital part of the community. He had his own business, paid taxes. He donated to charity. He got in trouble with the law by following the law when he went to renew his Utah driver's license. As part of the Utah renewal system, he had to submit fingerprints for a background check. It was then discovered that his visa had expired. Three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at his home, placed him in custody and took him away. He was being held in a jail in Florence, Ariz., when, apparently, they listened in on a phone conversation with his wife, who told him that an effort was under way to obtain federal intervention by some of Utah's Washington, D.C. delegation and that the media was being informed. Jesus told his wife that while on the plane back to Guatemala, he heard one ICE agent tell another: "We had to get rid of this guy."
Now, he's back in Soloma, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, with no money and nobody but a handful of friends in southern Utah mobilizing to return him home to his wife and kids.
There is an awareness effort under way. Friends and people concerned about justice in the United States -- particularly in light of the Obama administration's policy on immigration that would, in practice, have placed felons with illegal immigration status, at the head of the line, instead of deporting people like Jesus, who tried to play by the rules -- are using social networking to spread the word; sending emails; doing what they can to put this issue before the people.
