Erick Fuentes, a 54-year-old Guatemalan father, was unexpectedly deported after attending an interview at the USCIS offices in Los Angeles as part of the legal process to regularize his immigration status.
Although he attended with his U.S. citizen wife and all the required documents, he ended up detained by ICE agents and deported to Guatemala just five days later.
Unexpected deportation
The case has shocked the immigrant community, especially because Erick Fuentes had lived in the United States for 37 years.
He had been married for 23 years to a Panamanian-American citizen and lived in Glendale, California, with his wife and daughter, whom he had raised as his own since she was a baby.
He also owned a small home remodeling business.
According to his testimony, the immigration interview went normally, until the officer asked for his passport and Guatemalan identification to make copies.
At that time, his wife and son were invited to wait in the hallway.
Shortly thereafter, two ICE agents entered the office and arrested him without further explanation.
That same night he was taken to the Adelanto Detention Center, handcuffed at the feet, hands and waist.
Deported despite years of work
On May 17, Erick Fuentes was deported on a flight full of immigrants to Guatemala, after being transferred between detention centers in Arizona, Texas and Louisiana.
“On that plane I met a lot of hard-working men, like me, people who were not criminals.”
They were electricians, painters, all family men
Erick Fuentes
This occurred in a particularly complex context for immigrants with old deportation orders.
In late 2024, a federal judge blocked the “Parole in Place” program, a measure that allowed undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to adjust their immigration status without leaving the country.
Erick Fuentes had initiated his process under this program, but his protection was eliminated after the court ruling.
A hard lesson
Buzzy
His wife Katherina and daughter Ketzia are devastated.
Both traveled to Guatemala as soon as they learned where he had been taken.
“When he sleeps, his body trembles. He is pretending to be strong, but I know him. This is destroying him inside,” Katherina said.
The young Ketzia, for her part, confessed that she cannot imagine her life without him.
“He’s been my dad for as long as I can remember. This is breaking us,” she said through tears.
Now, Katherina and her daughter must return to California alone.
Erick Fuentes is left with his sister in Guatemala while legal proceedings are initiated to try to bring him back.
“We already got the I-130 approval, but that doesn’t erase what they did to us,” the wife said.
Given his experience, Erick Fuentes urges other immigrants to prepare themselves:
“If you have a deportation order, no matter how old it is, go prepared. Put your accounts in your wife’s name, leave a power of attorney, secure a place where you can get to if you are deported. You never think it’s going to happen until it does.
For more information, visit QuéOnnda.com.
