{"id":78248,"date":"2025-12-23T15:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78248"},"modified":"2025-12-23T15:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:40:08","slug":"for-immigrant-families-a-christmas-of-immense-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78248","title":{"rendered":"For Immigrant Families, a \u2018Christmas of Immense Pain\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Araceli Martinez<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This Christmas, a record number of immigrant families will spend the holiday mourning the absence of a loved one caught up in the administration’s campaign of mass deportation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Collage Image by David Pham. ICE image CC from DVIDS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Janeth L\u00f3pez, a mother of three kids, is desperate. Her fianc\u00e9, Fredy Sandoval was deported to Nicaragua after being held in detention for three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t wish on anyone a Christmas like the one we will have this year,\u201d said L\u00f3pez, 39, a resident of Paso Robles, located along California\u2019s Central Coast and famed for its wine shops, olive oil production and almond fields.<\/p>\n

During the two years the couple spent together, Sandoval, who entered the United States three years earlier seeking asylum, became a source of moral and financial support for L\u00f3pez and her three kids. \u201cHe earned the affection of my daughters,\u201d noted L\u00f3pez, whose kids are 4, 5 and 9 years old.<\/p>\n

She recalled the day, Sept. 30, when the couple decided to contact the lawyer in charge of Sandoval\u2019s asylum case after not hearing from her for a prolonged period. \u201cThe lawyer\u2019s assistant asked if we were aware that Fredy had had a court date the day before, on Sept. 29. Fredy said no one had notified him. The assistant said they hadn\u2019t received notice either, but that there was now an order for Fredy\u2019s deportation on the ICE website for failure to appear.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Janeth L\u00f3pez with her fianc\u00e9, Fredy Sandoval, who was recently deported to Nicaragua after three weeks in immigrant detention. (Photo courtesy of Janeth L\u00f3pez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The lawyer\u2019s assistant tried to assure the couple, saying they would submit a motion to reopen the case. Over the next 30 days that Sandoval was given to appeal, his lawyer\u2019s office continued telling him that they were working on his case; and again, they insisted that he shouldn\u2019t worry.<\/p>\n

During that time, Sandoval received an appointment to appear at the ICE offices in Santa Maria, about 60 miles south of Paso Robles, on Nov. 12. He was part of the Intensive Supervised Appearance Program (ISAP), which ICE uses for periodic check-ins with certain immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Fredy called his lawyers\u2019 office in Los Angeles, they told him to show up for the appointment, that nothing was going to happen. Stupidly we believed them, and we even made plans about what we were going to buy the girls for Christmas,\u201d recalled L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n

A half an hour passed before she went into the ICE office to ask about her fianc\u00e9. That\u2019s when officials informed her that he had been detained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called the lawyers\u2019 office again, and they told me to stay calm, that they were working on the motion to reopen the case,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sandoval spent his last three weeks in the United States in custody at the Adelanto Detention Center, east of Los Angeles, before being transferred to other facilities in Arizona, Louisiana, and Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Eventually L\u00f3pez reached out to the ACLU, which helped her find new lawyers. \u201cWe filed a motion to prevent Fredy\u2019s deportation, but two days later, on December 4, he was deported to Nicaragua,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

With Christmas here, L\u00f3pez says she is at a loss for words to describe how she feels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had plans to get married,\u201d said L\u00f3pez, who is a permanent resident, noting her fianc\u00e9 had no criminal record. \u201cHe was a good provider. He cared about my girls and they cared about him. He was happy with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI\u2019m trying to be strong, I don\u2019t feel like doing anything for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nicaragua, Sandoval is suffering the effects of detention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tells me he wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and his parents comfort him like he\u2019s a child. Guards kept him without food for 48 hours during the transfer; in Adelanto, on one occasion, they left them without water for about 36 hours,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cThe agents drank water in front of detainees, mocking them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that her fianc\u00e9 begs her to wait for him and give him time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis absence is very hard, even more so during this holiday season. He came to me from heaven, and I\u2019m not going to do anything but wait for us to be reunited. Fredy is my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Christmas in Detention<\/h2>\n

For Clemente Castillo and his four children, this Christmas will undoubtedly be the saddest of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife has been detained in Dilley, Texas since October 23, and she has a court hearing on January 12 to determine if bail will be set,\u201d says Castillo of his wife, Roberta, 44.<\/p>\n

The pair first came from Mexico to the United States in 2003. Their children, now 21, 18, 16, and 7 years old, were born here, as well as a granddaughter who was born on November 26.<\/p>\n

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Clemente Castillo and his wife, Roberta, along with their four children. Roberta is currently in detention. (Image courtesy of Clemente Castillo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cDuring Trump\u2019s first term, in 2016, my wife was detained when we lived in Bloomington, Illinois,\u201d recalled Castillo. \u201cThe registration sticker on the car she was driving had expired. She was stopped by a police officer who later turned her over to immigration.\u201d She was released the next day, although with a deportation order.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the advice of the immigration officer, we found a lawyer who stopped the deportation process, got her a work permit, and a social security number,\u201d said Castillo, adding the only drawback was that she had to report to ICE every year to sign in.<\/p>\n

Some immigrants are required to appear before ICE for periodic appointments, which allow officials to track their location, monitor their immigration status, and ensure compliance with immigration laws, especially for those in deportation proceedings or who have been released pending court appearances. This is ostensibly to verify that they do not pose a security risk and will attend their hearings.<\/p>\n

This year, Roberta\u2019s appointment was on Oct. 23 in Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where they arrested my wife, and for days I didn\u2019t hear from her, until she called me from a detention center in Dilley, Texas,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Castillo says everyone in the family is emotionally devastated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lawyer we had initially wanted to charge us $5,000, but then said it could be as much as $10,000. We had already paid him $7,000 before the arrest. Since I refused to give him what he asked for, he dropped the case; and that was for the best because I no longer trusted him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having lost his legal representation, Castillo has been looking for lawyers, but not many want to take the case because of the proximity of the bail hearing in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was one lawyer who asked for $3,500 without offering any guarantees,\u201d he said. \u201cI was even almost scammed by someone who pretended to be a lawyer and set me up in front of a fake judge online. Luckily, I realized it in time, just as I was about to send the payment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo says they have no other option but to defend themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife will go before the judge alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being both mom and dad hasn\u2019t been easy for Castillo, especially after the birth of their granddaughter while his wife remained in detention. \u201cShe\u2019s our only joy these days and what has helped us cope with the void left by my wife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fighting back tears, Castillo says their only crime was entering the United States without permission. \u201cWe didn\u2019t come here to steal. We\u2019re not a risk to society. We don\u2019t distribute or use drugs. We have a cleaning business. What\u2019s the crime? Leaving houses clean?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

For Castillo, this will be a Christmas of uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she\u2019s deported to Mexico, I\u2019ll go with her. If she\u2019s not here, I have no reason to be here,\u201d he said, his voice breaking with emotion.<\/p>\n

\u2018So Much Emotional Suffering\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis is a Christmas of immense pain, sadness, and hopelessness for immigrant families whose members have been deported, or those detained in these cruel centers,\u201d said Pastor Guillermo Torres, director of migration campaigns for Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE).<\/p>\n

Torres says he has never seen such cruelty in the more than ten years he has been visiting the Adelanto Detention Center. \u201cI was there on Friday and left in tears after witnessing so much emotional suffering and the negligence in providing medical care to detained immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0latest data<\/a>, some 68,442 people were being held in one of 216 ICE detention centers nationwide. ICE has also overseen a record number of deaths in detention, with four detainees dying over the past week alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must continue fighting, struggling, and praying with and for immigrants to change this cruel political situation,\u201d said Torres. \u201cI ask God to intervene and make His presence felt in these difficult times of racism, discrimination, and hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is part of \u201c<\/em>Aqu\u00ed Estamos\/Here We Stand<\/em><\/a>,\u201d a collaborative reporting project of American Community Media and community news outlets statewide.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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