California Couple Deported To Colombia After 35 Years In US

The sudden deportation of Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez, who resided in the US for 35 years, has left their California-born daughters devastated.

Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez

Source : Stephanie Gonzalez

The deportation of Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez, a couple who had resided in the US for 35 years, has left California family in ruins.  Their three American-born daughters are devastated and shocked by the US government's sudden decision.

A routine check-in with US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) on February 21 resulted in the arrest of Gladys Gonzales, 55, and Nelson Gonzalez, 59, from Laguna Niguel, which is located in the hills south of Los Angeles. They were held for three and a half weeks before departing for their home country of Colombia on March 18.

“For nearly four decades, they have built a life here — raising three daughters, giving back to their community, and recently welcoming their first grandchild,” their daughter Stephanie Gonzalez wrote on a GoFundMe page for the family. “Now, they are being treated as criminals.”

"This cruel and unjust situation has shattered our family emotionally and financially. Every day they remain detained is another stolen from their family, community, and their home."

What Immigration Attorney Said?

Monica Crooms, an Orange County-based immigration attorney who started working with the couple in 2018, told CNN, "“We didn’t expect that they would be apprehended and held in custody. And again, it’s not really unique to them anymore. It’s happening across the country."  She also pointed to recent immigration policy changes in the US two months into the current administration.

The Gonzalezes, according to Crooms and their daughters, paid their taxes, spent years looking for a feasible route to citizenship, and never had any legal issues.

Nelson Gonzalez applied for asylum in 1992, but the Customs Enforcement Bureau claims that his case was dropped in 1998 because he 'failed to attend an interview.'

According to the agency, the Gonzalezes willingly left the nation in 2000, but over the course of the following 21 years, they pursued legal means of staying through a number of courts and appeals procedures, ultimately exhausting all legal options in August 2021.