5 Years Later, Love Survives Deportation

Ivette Guevara’s eyes would well up when she recalled the day she was notified that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had taken her husband, Marvin, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, into custody.

Marvin’s arrest five years ago began an odyssey of family separation and struggle. He was deported to Honduras, where he would remain for nearly four years before regaining entry to the United States with legal status as a permanent resident.

This past Saturday, tears once again flowed from Ivette’s eyes as she and Marvin were married at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, a predominantly Hispanic parish in Fair Haven. The wedding was a fulfillment of their dream of being married in a church, some 18 years after their civil wedding in the city in 1997. Around 60 friends and family witnessed the matrimonial sacrament, which was conducted in Spanish.

Wearing a sleeveless white gown and holding a bridal bouquet of red roses, Ivette was escorted to the altar by her sons Marvin Jr., 18, and Edgar, 16, who wore stylish tan tuxedos. At the altar they were met by Marvin, who wore a traditional tan, three-piece suit and regiment tie.

Their lives of devotion to one another had been given a second chance, and with that came a renewed commitment to their faith and to the church.

Marvin, together with his wife Ivette, a Puerto Rican-American, were deeply ensconced in the American dream, working and raising a family— a daughter, Sheyla, and two sons, Marvin Jr. and Edgar — at the time of Marvin’s arrest by federal agents in 2010.

Like many undocumented immigrants prior to Connecticut’s controversial 2013 law approving drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants, Marvin had been driving without a license. That fact along with his undocumented status, was detected after involvement in an auto accident only blocks from home. Although it was a nearly a year after the accident, agents eventually took Marvin into custody. That the auto accident was the other driver’s fault was of little consolation to Marvin as his greatest fear was realized: the life that he and Ivette had built was soon to unravel.

Marvin said he was initially arrested in 1993 after crossing the southern border from Mexico into the U.S. He was held for two months at a detention center in Fresno, Texas. He was en route to join his mother, brother and an uncle already living in Connecticut when border officials took him into custody. After an uncle posted bond, Marvin was released and headed to Connecticut to be reunited with family after obtaining temporary legal status. Marvin said he later learned about a legal notice to report to court in New York to answer an order of deportation, papers which he said he never received.

During the long separation after Marvin’s deportation, the couple said, they kept the love alive through constant communication: ​“We talked every day on our cell phones — ten times a day, sometimes 20,” said Ivette. In Honduras, Marvin continued his work as a cabinet maker but also spent many hours studying immigration law at the library. With changing immigration laws, and because he had no criminal record, Marvin eventually found a legal path back to the U.S. and to the arms of his waiting family and the ​“love of my life.” ​“One of the best days of my life,” said Marvin, ​“was seeing my kids again.”

For the family, life without Marvin had proved difficult. ​“I saw the struggles that mom went through,” said daughter Sheila Vargas (pictured), 27, who is now studying to become a paralegal. ​“My stepdad was the primary breadwinner and was taken away at a time when his boys were becoming young men and needed their father most.” Vargas, referencing her stepfather’s initial illegal entry to the U.S., summed up the thoughts and motivations of many who enter the country legally and otherwise: ​“There are many great immigrants who come to this country without criminal pasts. Everyone wants a better life, a better future.”

St. Rose of Lima pastor Father James C. Manship, an advocate for immigrant rights and one of the founders of CONECT, ​“a non-partisan organization of 28 diverse congregations working for social and economic justice,” called Marvin and Ivette’s story emblematic of many in his burgeoning congregation of immigrants. St. Rose includes parishioners from Guatemala, Mexico and indigenous Chiapas congregants among the many Hispanic groups represented.

Even as Manship has worked to help change laws to improve immigrant lives (he counts among recent victories new laws providing drivers’ license access to undocumented immigrants and access to in-state tuition for Connecticut residents regardless of immigration status), his mission as pastor is that of spiritually supporting a culture of family and community. That mission, according to Manship, has been made more difficult by those who seek to ​“provoke as a political strategy” referring to the persistent, inflammatory rhetoric of presidential candidate Donald Trump. ​“The anti-immigrant statements by Trump have created an atmosphere of intimidation, giving license to some landlords to harass tenants, while opening the doors for scam organizations to prey upon immigrant fears. Trump has caused a lot of problems for our people,” he said.

Mainship also decried decisions by some politicians in positions of power: ​“It pains me that [U.S. House] Speaker [Paul] Ryan has taken immigration reform off the table saying he can’t trust the president,” said Manship, while also pointing to the fact that President Obama, ironically, has ​“deported more immigrants than any other president in history.”

“We must build bridges, not walls” said Manship noting a rumored visit to the US-Mexico border by Pope Francis early next year. The Pope is scheduled to visit Mexico — an action he hopes will help move the immigration reform issue forward.

Manship said that reform should include a path to citizenship but also a more fluid worker permit arrangement that would allow easier movement across borders for those wishing to work here. ​“Ivette and Marvin’s story puts a human face to immigration reform,” said Manship, noting the ubiquitous presence of immigrants.

“They’re all around us,” he said. ​“Despite all the oppression, when someone gets married, it’s a sign of hope and life.”

For Ivette and Marvin, Saturday’s wedding at St. Rose of Lima was a brief respite from the politics of immigration and painful memories of an incident that changed their lives. It was a time to renew marital vows and reinforce the ties of family, God and community. ​“I’m very happy” beamed Ivette, saying she was ​“super-contenta” after the ceremony. ​“Another American dream has come true,” said husband Marvin, as the couple prepared to exit the church.