Rhode Island mom Lilian Gordillo tried to obtain citizenship by following the rules, and for trying to follow the rules she may possibly be torn from her family and deported to her native Guatemala:
When Luis Gordillo and his wife went to have their marriage verified by immigration authorities in Johnston, she ended up in jail.
“They locked her up there. I wasn’t able to see her anymore and they were going to take her to Suffolk Correction in Boston,” he told NBC 10 News on Friday.
The couple married in 2016 and after having two children, began steps to try to get Lilian naturalized. That included gathering paperwork and visiting immigration officials:
The interview with authorities, which took place on Wednesday, seemed to be going fine. The couple presented pictures and documents proving they were actually married, and not just pretending in order to get her into the country.
After Gordillo was interviewed, Lilian went into the room.
“She said that everything was going along fine. The gentleman that did the interview said, 'This sounds like a real marriage. I approve this. Everything, you guys have everything that we need to prove this is a real marriage,'" Gordillo said. "And then she said the gentleman received a phone call and he told her, 'There’s a gentleman outside my office that wants to ask you a question.'”
“And she said when she went out,” Luis told NBC 10 News, “the ICE officer told her she was being detained because she had a deportation order." Lilian is now in detention as immigration officials continue reviewing her case.
This isn’t the first time agents have targeted immigrants seeking to legalize their status. Last year, agents arrested numerous immigrants at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Massachusetts, with at least four there for appointments to seek legal status, according to the Washington Post. Two had no criminal record, others had mere traffic violations:
Leandro Arriaga has been in the United States illegally since 2001.
He stayed despite a deportation order and over the past 16 years has made a living fixing and remodeling homes. He also started a family. But the father of four had grown tired of “living in the shadows,” his attorney said.
So last week, he went to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office for his marriage petition interview — the first step to legalize his presence in the United States through his wife, a naturalized citizen. The process, called an I-130 visa petition, is a common way for foreigners to gain legal residency through their relatives or spouses.
But Arriaga was arrested that day, along with four others who also showed up at the USCIS office in Lawrence, Mass. [...]
Attempting to gain legal status through marriage is an extraordinarily difficult and expensive process, and may not prove to be successful. In Lilian’s case, she and her husband thought they were doing the right thing:
“We wanted to get married earlier when we were younger, but we always had that concern, 'What if she gets caught, picked up by immigration?" Gordillo said. " Once we had our children, we decided, 'Let’s get married and we’ll start the process, me trying to sponsor you and give you legal status in the U.S.' We thought we were doing things the proper way, and then this happened.”
Her advocates are also appealing to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to intervene in any way she can. “Lillian Gordillo needs your help,” Upside RI tweeted. “She's a mother of two children, held by ICE . One year ago, Gov. Raimondo promised to protect all Rhode Islanders. Today we need more than words.”