Alicia Figueroa was ready Monday to tuck her green card into her purse and be deported with her four youngest children, who do not have legal documents to remain in the United States.
Instead, the 57-year-old legal resident was relieved to learn that her children, ages 16 through 22, were given a temporary reprieve by Immigration and Customs Enforcement until mid-January, at the request of U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette.
“This family has been in a saga for years trying to keep their family together,” DeGette said Monday. “I think it’s un-American to split up a family.”
DeGette got involved last week after hearing that the family faced separation.
The parents became legal residents in 2003 after being sponsored in 1998 by an older daughter who is a U.S. citizen. The siblings, then minors, could not be included in the petition. As soon as their mother received her green card, she filed visa applications for her children, which were approved but not issued.
Because of a backlog, it could take up to six years for the children to get their visas. Under federal regulations, it is illegal to be in the U.S. without documentation.
Two weeks ago, the Figueroa family received notice that Nancy, 22, Blanca, 21, Miguel, 17, and Rosa, 16, were to report to ICE on Monday for deportation. The family’s attorney said they were noticed by federal authorities because they were victims of a scam in California when they tried to complete the application process.
“It’s been really scary and stressful because there is nothing we can actually do but wait,” said Blanca, a sophomore at Community College of Denver.
Blanca was 7 when the family came to live in the U.S. from Michocan, Mexico. Her sister Rosa, a sophomore at South High School with a 4.2 grade-point average, was 3.
“This is where we have grown up, and this is what we know,” Blanca Figueroa said. “This is our home.”
That’s why their mother was willing to go with her young children if they were sent to Mexico. They know no one there and have no idea what it is like to live there, Alicia Figueroa said.
DeGette said she is determined to keep the family together and may consider legislation to make that happen. The bigger problem is a broken immigration system, she said.
