Family fights to save father from being deported to El Salvador

HOUSTON – The fight to save a Houston man from deportation has his young daughters launching a new legal battle.

Juan Rodriguez illegally immigrated to the United States from El Salvador in 2001 to reunite with his wife and first-born daughter.

He was denied temporary protected status and should have returned home voluntarily, but he stayed.

He's been checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement regularly ever since.

But in February, ICE told Rodriguez his time was up. He's set to be deported on June 29.

"They don't realize the pain they're causing me and my sisters. They don't realize that they're destroying us, they're taking a father from us, they're taking a husband from my mother," said his oldest daughter, Karen.

The 18-year-old just graduated from Cristo Rey Jesuit Preparatory School. She says her plans to attend college to study civil engineering are now uncertain.

As Juan's attorney fights to keep him in the country, his daughters now have a trio of their own high-profile attorneys prepared to make an unusual argument to keep the family together.

"We're fighting for these three beautiful, brilliant American children. This archaic immigration policy is violating their religious liberties," said David Medina, a former Texas Supreme Court justice and a partner with the Chamberlain Hrdlicka law firm.

Medina, Juan Vasquez and David Calvillo say separating the family goes against their religious beliefs as seventh-day Adventists.

"A family unit must stay together, that is one of their tenets. The 23rd tenet says they must stay united with family with the father as the leader," Medina said.

The attorneys argue deporting Juan is effectively deporting the entire family.

"If they deport my dad, we go with him because we're a family. We should be together; we deserve to be together," Karen said.

The attorneys representing the children say they plan to file their lawsuit and have it heard before a federal judge very soon.