Neofita Silva has been battling with immigration since 2005, but she recently received notice that she will be deported on Jan. 3.
“I’m concerned because my kids are living in a stressful environment. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s something that worries me because I don’t know what will happen if it does,” Silva said in Spanish.
Lori Haley, a communications director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told New Times via email that “an immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review determined Silva did not have lawful basis to live in the United Sates and ordered her removal to Mexico in 2005.”
Haley said Silva filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which dismissed the case in 2006. In 2008, she filed a petition for review of the BIA’s decision with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—it was denied. In 2009, the BIA denied her motion to reopen her immigration case, exhausting her legal avenues for appeal.
“It should be noted that officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted Silva a total of six stays of removal while she appealed her immigration case to the nation’s courts,” Haley said.
Silva has been working and raising her family on the Central Coast for 25 years with a work permit. She’s a homeowner, a full-time employee, and Sunday school teacher.
For the past 18 years, she has been checking in with the ICE office to let them know of her presence in the country and to renew her permit.
“I wanted to run away from that place because I felt in that moment they would take me away,” she said.
Although she has no criminal history, Silva said the Santa Maria ICE office told her she was being deported because of her status in the country.
Originally from Acapulco, Mexico, the only relative she could stay with there would be her mother.
“After two decades I don’t know what that place is like. It’s not the same as it once was,” she said.
Dawn Addis, a coordinator of Women’s March SLO, said the organization is calling on the community to help Silva.
“We are asking the public to call, write, and email to ask that Silva be allowed to stay and care for her daughter, who is of minor age,” Addis said.
With the help of the Women’s March, Silva is receiving support from Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon, and Grover Beach Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Shah.
Silva has three children, a 16-year-old in high school, an 18-year-old in college, and 24-year-old living in San Diego. She worries that if she were to be taken away there won’t be anyone to take care of her children and she would lose her home.
“I can only have faith in God that their hearts will change; that people will pay attention to my situation and help me,” she said. “I can only wait for a miracle from God that this doesn’t happen.”
This article appears in Dec 28, 2017 – Jan 7, 2018.
boohoohoo
Glenda?! christian much?
Acapulco is a tourist destination. Theres a lot of jobs there. Gang violence is not a good excuse! Its either U crossed illegally or overstayed your visa therefore u violated US laws. You dont have the rights to stay here. Im sorry but its time for u to leave!
These alt right trolls (Lillie White??? White dog??) Show about as much humanity as you’d expect from a failed white supremacist. Similar news article in the SLO Tribune had similar trolls and their hateful remarks. They need more fiber in their diet, this constant life of hiding under bridges and eating little children has impacted their colon (and their thought process’s, closely related). I wrote a comment to the Tribune article, and am copying it here, as its basically the same subject.
What a sad, heartless series of comments from our Alt-Right trolls. Did ANY of you have a mother??? ANY of you have any challenges in your (or your family/friends) lives that some one might have helped with?? ANY of you read the Bible, and listened to its message of love and forgiveness??? This is Christmas, a time of love and compassion, and you spew such hatred??
Trump spews this filth and anger because it gets him and his billionaire friends a big tax cut, but whats it get you??? A birthright of white supremacy?? Good luck cashing that check. We do have problems in this country, but the solution is to help each other, not kick the weaker into the gulch. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are wetting themselves in excitement of cutting Social Security and Medicare next year to pay for their 1.5 Trillion tax cut (they have announced this), how is that going to help the middle class??? We are all just people, with a wide range of situations, but we all do better, when we all do better. When 60% of the tax cuts go to the top 0.1%, you and your children are just going to be cannon fodder in their next war (stay tuned, they are already talking about it).