Local immigration attorneys say undocumented immigrant families In Northeast Ohio are increasingly skittish as they prepare for routine appointments with federal immigration officials. They鈥檙e concerned that the policies that have allowed them to remain in the U.S. are abruptly changing. WKSU鈥檚 M.L. Schultze reports that one Akron family found out there鈥檚 reason for such fears.
Even people in Akron who don鈥檛 know Laura Valbuena likely know her face. It鈥檚 on billboards in the city and Facebook pages proclaiming 鈥淚 am Hoban鈥�
But the 16-year-old is no longer is at Archbishop Hoban High School. Her family abruptly left the country last week heading to Colombia, a country she hasn鈥檛 seen since she was 4. Technically, it wasn鈥檛 a deportation. It鈥檚 what they call a 鈥渧oluntary departure.鈥�
But it clearly wasn鈥檛 by choice.
Laura鈥檚 father, Leonardo, was wearing an ankle monitor. It was part of a deal with immigration officials, giving him a few weeks to gather his family and belongings and say goodbye to the Akron community. The other part of the deal was that Catholic social justice advocates who had been working with the Valbuenas provide proof that they bought the family鈥檚 airline tickets to head back to Colombia.
A life collapsed
None of them had expected what happened, least of all Leonardo Valbuena.
鈥淎ll my life, in one second, collapsed.鈥�
That鈥檚 from an amateur video made by those advocates before the Valbuenas left. In it, Laura鈥檚 parents sit on their couch, surrounded by boxes being hastily packed with what the family has accumulated over 11 years in Akron. A painting of Jesus Christ hasn鈥檛 been packed yet. It sits on the shelf above them.
Leonardo Valbuena apologizes for his English. But it鈥檚 not the only reason he struggles to explain what happened Jan. 23, the day he made his last regular visit to the federal building in Cleveland to renew his work papers.
Arriving legal, becoming illegal
According to the Migration Policy Institute, nearly half the estimated 11 million people who are in this country illegally arrive with valid visas 鈥� and overstay,
The Valbuenas were among them. They arrived from Colombia with temporary visitors visas that were apparently was never replaced with official asylum status. But Leonardo Valbuena met regularly with immigration officials and his job as a carpenter was on record.
And he says he always abided by the rules including for work and taxes.
鈥淎ll these years I am working legally. Paying my taxes. Paying my bills and everything.鈥�
There is no record of a recent criminal arrest that would have clearly affected his status.
Detention and a threat of deportation
But instead of renewing his work permit, Valbuena says, immigration officials informed him he was under arrest and would be deported in as little as a day. He says he was handcuffed, later belly chained and transported about a hundred miles west to the Seneca County Jail, one of four main holding areas for immigration enforcement in Ohio.
Before he left for Tiffin, he pleaded that he had children in school, that his boss expected him back at work, that his wife, who doesn鈥檛 drive, had accompanied him to Cleveland
He spoke with her through glass and told her to call a nun who had helped the family. A few days later, he was allowed to come home tp prepare his family to leave the country.
Protecting America?
Federal officials would not discuss details of this specific case. They referred policy questions to the new rules adopted under and subsequent Homeland Security directives.
Trump highlighted his immigration order in his .
鈥淏y finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone.鈥�
The order expands the priorities for deportation set by the
.
Under Obama鈥檚 rules, the priorities were national security risks, people stopped at the border, gang leaders and other felons who committed crimes other than immigration offenses. Under Trump, they can to include anyone who may have committed a criminal offense 鈥� convicted or not -- including immigration offenses.
The order became official days after Leonardo Valbuena was detained.
The Valbuena family鈥檚 situation has been a social media cause in Akron for the last week, and was highlighted in a debate over sanctuary cities and states at last week鈥檚 Akron City Council meeting.
Project Hope, big smiles and big tears
The family itself has not responded to requests for more information since they returned to Colombia. Greg Milo, a former Hoban teacher, keeps in touch with Laura and says the family doesn鈥檛 want to stir up more attention.
But whatever the details of their life now, he says Akron will miss Laura Valbuena. She was a regular with 鈥淧roject Hope,鈥� a group of Hoban students who joined him Wednesday nights to distribute food throughout the city to homeless people. He says it鈥檚 not an activity all students embrace, especially on freezing winter nights.
鈥淏ut she was very willing to do that and very interested in that and she very much enjoyed bringing joy and humanity to those spaces.鈥�
So he says it was natural that he raced up to Hopkins when he got word on Facebook that the family was leaving. He found her there with her family, and their dog and carrying a baby-doll she鈥檇 brought with her to the United States.
While he was there, someone took a picture of him with Laura 鈥� her with the same wide smile that appears on the Hoban billboards.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where that came from so she鈥檚 putting up a good front because tears were right flowing before that. But luckily for me, I have that image of the big smile.鈥�
What鈥檚 unclear is how often similar pictures will be taken with other Northeast Ohio families in the coming year.
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