HOUSTON – A woman said she will not give up trying to bring her husband home from El Salvador after he was deported.
Rose Ascencio-Escobar spoke Monday at Bush Airport against her husband's deportation, joined by Rep. Al Green and the FIEL organization.
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A local advocacy group said it is all too common among people who have routine meetings with immigration officials.
"My husband, who is not a U.S. citizen, does not have a voice. But I'll be his voice. I'll be the voice of my children," Ascencio-Escobar said.
She said she will fight until her husband, Jose Escobar, is back with his family and his children.
"We are living our American dream, and it was just ripped away. It's not fair," Ascencio-Escobar said.
Rose, who is an American citizen, blames her husband's deportation on the new presidential administration.
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She said Escobar came to the U.S. when he was 15.
He was granted DACA status and was able to get a work permit.
Escobar was detained in February after checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as he did for five years. He was deported to El Salvador two weeks later.
Ascencio-Escobar said he did not fill out paperwork that made him a legal resident, but he eventually got a work permit and faithfully checked in with ICE agents.
Even so, a judge ordered him out of the United States. The Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle organization said it happens all too often.
"Go find criminals. Don't target family members -- the man who's the bread winner, the mom who is taking care of her kids," Ascencio-Escobar said.
"Basically, they have to get an attorney in order to try to remain in the country. That's what we're advising everybody. Even if it is supervision and they have gone prior to supervision, we tell them to get an attorney, because we're seeing this on a daily basis where they're going and they're not coming back out," director of legal services Aura Espinoza said.
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Rose said officials told her that Escobar did not "try hard enough to obtain a legal status."
Green rallied behind the family, urging President Trump to help this hard-working family man.
"We are going to continue this struggle to bring him home. He deserves to be with his children. He deserves to be with his wife," Green said.
"This is an injustice. My family deserves to be together. We shouldn't have been separated without him even having a criminal record, and we will see victory in the end," Ascencio-Escobar said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said it was not a wrongful deportation and they said Escobar is a fugitive.
"An immigration judge ordered Escobar removed from the United States in 2006, but instead of departing the country, he became an immigration fugitive," Officials said in a statement. "ICE re-arrested him in 2011, and he entered ICE custody. Mr. Escobar failed to comply with his removal order."
Ascencio-Escobar said she and their two children will be stay with Escobar in El Salvador for a month.
In the meantime, she's waiting for an immigration judge to reopen her husband's case so they can move forward with their petition.
