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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah mother has 12 days to convince Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials (ICE) to let her stay in the country.
Maria Santiago Garcia came to the U.S. in 2003 under humanitarian parole fleeing violence in her native country of Guatemala.
ICE officials said she did not take the proper steps to stay in the U.S. legally and is now facing deportation.
“We’re quickly running out of time,” said Amy Dominguez at a rally for Garcia Wednesday night.
Dominguez is with a group called Unidad Inmigrante that has been working with Garcia to find a way for her to be allowed to stay in the country. Dominguez said since Garcia has four children born in the U.S., no criminal history and is a contributing member of society, ICE should reconsider their decision.
“She has built her life here,” Dominguez said. “Maria deserves to stay because she’s a community member and we all care about her.”
If deported, Garcia said she would have no choice but to bring all four children to Guatemala with her.
Garcia’s 9-year-old daughter, Sarai Reyes, said she’s scared to move to a foreign country — Utah is all she knows.
“I like my friends and my teachers, and I like that there is not much violence around,” Sarai said.
Even though she remains optimistic, Sarai admitted that her family has been preparing for the worst.
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Dozens gathered to offer their support to two Utah mothers facing deportation in the coming month.“We have been packing our clothes and stuff and my mom has been packing her dishes,” she said.
Garcia said ICE agents gave her until Dec. 10 to leave the country, but she explained to them that she could not pay for tickets for all five of them for that date. She has since raised the money and purchased tickets to Guatemala for Christmas Day.
Garcia and her supporters hope something will happen before then so that the family will not have to board that flight.
“We are really hoping that we can get in touch with our Republican allies to see if there is anything that we can do to intervene in Maria’s case and have the possibility of staying in Utah,” Dominguez said.
