Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Samantha Hayes Reporting"It's frustrating. I'm here on this end talking on the phone."
He served a tour of duty in Iraq, and returned home, looking forward to a normal life with his family.
But tonight, he's alone in his Riverdale home, wondering if his government will let his wife and child return.
This is the daily struggle of the man who says he only wants someone to listen.
Her shoes are in the corner. Her favorite toy sits inside. You almost expect a toddler to run through the living room at any moment, but it has been silent in his house for five months.
Aaron Thorsted: "Every day I come home and I know my house is empty. It's frustrating. The house is empty and my wife is gone and my children are gone."
Aaron Thorsted's life is on hold. And only the U.S. Government can say when it will start again.
Aaron Thorsted: "Basically we are waiting for somebody to make a decision."
Somebody with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
In 2003, when he married Johana, Aaron Thorsted knew she was in the country illegally. He says her parents forced her as a child to come to the U.S., hoping she would find a better life.
Aaron Thorsted: "She was worried I was going to walk out on her and I'm like, 'No. We'll just take care of it and it will work out in the end,' I told her."
He has stood by that promise, but it has been more difficult than anticipated. And her application process was slowed by Thorsted's year and a half deployment to Iraq.
In August, pregnant with their second child, Johana left for Guatemala to apply for her Visa.
"She is trying to ask questions and they won't answer her questions. I'm trying to find out through her, but they won't give her enough information to tell me anything that I could help her."
And in December, long after they thought she would be back in the U.S., she gave birth.
"The best thing I can do for her is get her where a good doctor can check up on her."
No one knows when that will be. Because Johana was in the country illegally, there is a ten year penalty. But she qualifies for a waiver, and applied in September.
In the meantime, he waits...
Aaron Thorsted: "I'm surviving, but I wish I didn't have to go through it."
....until the day, he hopes, the silence is broken.
Thorsted and his wife are waiting on approval of that waiver from ICE. They contacted Utah representatives in hopes of expediting the process.
