nothin Another Dad Fights Deportation | New Haven Independent

Another Dad Fights Deportation

Christopher Peak Photo

Nelson Pinos with his family.

Another undocumented immigrant, this time a father of three in the Annex who said he has paid his taxes and obeyed the law, has been ordered to leave the country by month’s end. New Haven’s taking up his cause. His story sounds familiar — with options running out.

Nelson Pinos, a 43-year-old immigrant who entered the country illegally 25 years ago, tried to fix his undocumented status five years ago to no avail. Every six months since then, he has met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. At an Oct. 4 check-in in Hartford, authorities told Pinos his time had run out, ordering him to buy a one-way plane ticket back to Ecuador for Nov. 30.

In the two weeks Pinos has left, organizers from Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA) are fighting to keep him here, starting with a rally Thursday night in front of City Hall. His lawyer, meanwhile, is considering options in federal court, after ICE agents denied his application for a stay.

I just hope immigration understands that this is wrong. Why are they separating families?” said his oldest daughter Kelly, a 15-year-old sophomore at Wilbur Cross. He can’t leave. I beg them to not deport him. We need him here.” She added, I hope they see us and change their mind.”

Thursday night’s chant: Keep Nelson home!

His predicament is a familiar story in New Haven, where a network of activists has rallied to halt deportations across the state and local churches have opened up their sanctuaries as a last resort. But as the Trump administration’s crackdown continues, legal options appear to be running out. The organized resistance that freed Nury Chavarria, less than a week after she fled to Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal, is starting to look less effective without a change in law.

A stark reminder of the Trump administration’s unwillingness to back down could be found just two blocks away from Thursday’s rally for Pinos, where Marco Antonio Reyes Alvarez remains stuck inside First & Summerfield Church for the third month straight. Back in August, when he first sought sanctuary in the Methodist church, it looked like Sen. Richard Blumenthal might be able to personally stop the deportation, but even that intervention hasn’t done any good.

I’m feeling devastated, because in a few days I’ll have to leave my family,” Pinos said. I’m hoping for a miracle.”

Kelly Pinos: Why is ICE breaking up our family?

Growing up, Pinos remembered little economic opportunity in Ecuador’s Cañar Province. At age 6, he sold newspapers and lottery tickets in city streets to pay for his school supplies. He never graduated from high school. As a teen, he left home to seek a better life in the United States, hopping through Guatemala and Mexico, before crossing the border on foot in 1992.

He ended up in Minneapolis, where immigration authorities swept him up in a dragnet in 1993. Pinos eventually missed a court date after he’d moved to New York City, and in 1997, an immigration judge issued a deportation order. Pinos didn’t find out about it for another two decades.

In 1999, Pinos arrived in New Haven. He worked in manufacturing for 15 years, paying income taxes throughout. Two weeks ago, when he informed his employer about his legal situation, the boss fired him, saying Pinos couldn’t come back until he got it fixed.

I’m afraid that my kids are going to lose everything, because I’m their support. I don’t want them to struggle like I did when I was a kid back home,” Pinos said. If I leave, I know they’re going to suffer a lot.”

Pinos’s wife, who’s also undocumented, doesn’t have a job. She takes care of the family’s three children, including 12-year-old Arley, a seventh-grader at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School and 5‑year-old Brandon Pinos, a kindergartener at John S. Martinez School.

Asked about seeking sanctuary in a church, Pinos said he hadn’t started considering what he will do if he can’t get a stay.

Demonstrators gather outside City Hall Thursday evening.

Yazmin Rodriguez, an attorney with Esperanza Center for Law and Advocacy, a pro bono immigration firm, said she filed a stay of removal on Sept. 6, but ICE denied it two days later. That didn’t feel like authorities had taken the time to fully review the extensive materials she’d put together on the case, she said.

Rodriguez said she’s now considering asking a Minnesota judge to reopen the original deportation case, but she’s unsure if that maneuver will get Pinos a stay.

This is unjust, and I cannot understand how people can be okay with this,” Rodriguez said. It’s time for us to rise up. It’s time for us to fight back. It’s time for us to say no. If we want to make America great, then we have to push against this administration and go back to a system that is humane.”

On Thursday, ULA’s John Lugo led a crowd of 50 supporters in chants of Not one more deportation!” and Keep Nelson home!” Mayor Toni Harp called on Congress to finally reexamine the immigration system.

We’ve got to make sure those laws protect our citizens, those who have been here paying taxes and have been contributing members of our community,” she said. I stand with you. New Haven will always be a welcoming city.”

Activist Emily Brink.

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