Deportation Stories of 2013

This year, there were around 370,000 deportations, each with their own stories and families.  While the immigrant rights community was able to stop some of them, it takes a large portion of the community to affect any individual case and, even when we do organize, it is often not enough.

These deportations were all done under the Obama Administration, and we hope that 2014 will be a better year for immigrant families.

Ardany Rosales

Ardany, a father of two citizen children, came to the U.S. to escape gang violence and death threats for helping youth get out of gangs. He is a husband who had not met his new born baby, and a good man who had never committed any crimes. Despite protestors camping outside of ICE for him, he was deported.

Lizbeth Lizbeth Mateo, Marco Saavedra and Lulu Martinez

This three folks, unlike most on this list, decided to self-deport. They did it for a good cause. Together with the #Dream9, they presented themselves at the border and asked Obama to bring them home with their friends.

Edi Garcia Armas

After his 11 year old child, Jose Garcia, went on CNN to tell the story about his dad being detained and possibly deported, the community went into action. An Arizona congressman drafted a private bill for him and thousands of people called ICE. Edi was released and allowed to stay with his family.

Katherine Figueroa’s Parents

Maria Bueno and Carlos Figuroa were about to be deported after Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted a raid at the car wash they were working at. Katherine jumped into action and asked the President to stop her parent’s deportation on a Youtube video. This year they were given a chance to stay thanks to the hard work of their teenage daughter.

Maria Arreola

Mother of activists and Dreamer, Erika Andiola, whose bus made a u-turn before she was taken to Mexico because of the national pressure that ICE, DHS and the Administration received.

Mario Andrade

This story went viral when Harethe Andrade, her daughter, spoke at the National Convening for the AFL-CIO, right before President Obama was supposed to speak and asked for him to stop her father’s deportation.

Mario Montoya

The father of a well known Arizona Dreamer, Reyna Montoya, who was about to be deported after spending months detained in Puerto Rico. His daughter organized the community and stopped his deportation.