A DACA recipient is about to be deported after missing his exit on the freeway in San Ysidro and accidentally crossing the border into Mexico, his attorney said, just weeks before his American citizen wife is expected to give birth.<\/p>\n
The attorney alleges Customs and Border Protection officials asked him for a bribe to return to the U.S. She said she filed a complaint with the FBI in hopes that he may be shielded from deportation in the event that he is asked to cooperate in any potential investigation.<\/p>\n
CBP has not responded to multiple requests for comment on this case or the allegation of corruption.<\/p>\n
Erick Hernandez was brought to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago when he was 14 years old, his family said. His parents now have legal status in the U.S., and his wife Nancy Rivera said they began the process for him to gain legal status after they got married last fall. His family and attorney said he has no criminal history.<\/p>\n
Rivera said they met during the pandemic, when she had two young daughters and was in school but didn\u2019t know how to drive. A friend introduced her to Hernandez and said he could give her a ride to her classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always been there for us,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cHe\u2019s always been like a family dad so that\u2019s what I love about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith him, like, everything changed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The two welcomed a daughter and are expecting a son in August. Hernandez\u2019s parents said he works with his father in air conditioning, and as a rideshare driver to make some extra money. The whole family lives in East Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
On June 1, Hernandez was giving two people a ride from L.A. to the border in San Ysidro, his family and attorney said. He wrote a declaration that he missed the exit on the freeway and ended up crossing the border by accident.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when that happened, he lost everything, basically,\u201d his attorney Valerie Sigamani said, noting that anyone with DACA \u2014 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals \u2014 needs prior approval to leave the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe no longer has DACA. His attempt to come back to the United States and say, \u2018This was a mistake. It was an accident. I was not trying to leave the United States,\u2019 was ignored,\u201d Sigamani said.<\/p>\n
Sigamani alleges American officials at the border asked him for a payment to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the officials told him, \u2018Well, if you pay us $800, we\u2019ll forgive everything, and we’ll let you into the United States with no problem,'” Sigamani said. She said Hernandez thought that was a legal process but did not have the cash on him.<\/p>\n
Sigamani said he\u2019s been placed in expedited removal, which is essentially a fast-tracked deportation process in which he\u2019s detained and not eligible for bond. He\u2019s been held at Otay Mesa Detention Center ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a lot of hope. He feels like something good is going to happen. He’s a person of faith,\u201d Sigamani said. \u201cBut at the same time, he’s sad about the entire situation. He’s afraid of returning to El Salvador. He doesn’t know that country. He hasn’t been there since he was a kid, so he has no idea what it’s like to live in El Salvador.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hernandez\u2019s parents said in Spanish he\u2019s a loving father who they rely on for help caring for his younger siblings as well. They called the situation \u201ca nightmare\u201d and said they fled El Salvador because it was corrupt and dangerous. They said they don\u2019t understand how this happened here and are terrified of what could happen to him if he\u2019s deported.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just worrying. I’m just worried that he’s, if he gets deported, like, how I’m going to manage everything by myself,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a lot of, you know, stress, anxiety that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera said she\u2019s caring for the children alone and still working full time in her third trimester, concerned about the loss of Hernandez\u2019s income.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was my main support, you know?\u201d she said. \u201cIt was, I just think one second that, you know, everything changed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A DACA recipient is about to be deported after missing his exit on the freeway in San Ysidro…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,409,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-84975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114900609675572674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}