Deportation wreaks havoc on a family

The Pinto family woke up May 9 and went about their morning routine, which included eating their favorite breakfast of rice, bread and milk. Diego, the son, headed off to school. His parents, Alma and Armando, left for work.

They haven't been together since.

"I came home from work and waited for Armando to come home, and he never came," Alma said.

Instead of climbing into his truck and heading to his job as a construction worker at University Hospital, Armando was met by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who asked him to get into a government vehicle parked nearby. Armando was deported to Mexico the following day with only the clothes on his back. His wife and son were not there to give him a last hug and goodbye.

The Pinto family's predicament could be different under the immigration bill now before Congress. According to the proposed bill, Armando could apply for a Z Visa. The Z Visa enables illegal immigrants to remain in the United States if they continue to work, abstain from criminal activity and learn English. After a certain amount of time, the head of the household would return to his or her native country and apply for residency.

"He (Armando) possibly would have a basis to reopen his case," said Tim Wheelwright, an immigration attorney with the law firm of Durham Jones & Pinegar. "It would depend on whether he could qualify for the Z Visa."

Since the bill continues to be revised, it cannot be said for certain where Armando's case would stand if the bill passed, Wheelwright said. Regarding Armando's desire to return to the United States, the bill in its present form would not lift the 10-year ban restricting deported immigrants from returning, according to Wheelwright.

Right now, Armando said he knew nothing of his illegal status despite deportation warnings and orders the government says it issued.

"I have my papers," he told the Deseret Morning News in an phone interview from San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. "I paid $1,500, and they accepted me."

Immigration officials tell a different story.

According to ICE spokeswoman Elaine Komis, Armando appeared in 1994 before an immigration judge who offered to let him voluntarily return to Mexico within 91 days. He appealed that decision, which the court dismissed one year later in March 1995, giving him 30 days to leave the country.

Armando stayed. In a recent interview, he said that he did not know of that last departure order. Twelve years later, ICE found and deported Armando, who by then had lived in the United States for 27 years.