Youth leaders will speak out on behalf of Max Villatoro — an Iowa pastor and father of four whose deportation to Honduras has been scheduled for Tuesday — in downtown Iowa City on Tuesday afternoon.
Misty Rebik, executive director of the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa — the host of “March with Max’s Family” — said the demonstration is an effort to educate those who attend about how deportation affects families.
“What we want with this march is, of course, to raise awareness about what separating families looks like here, locally in our community, and also to demand — hoping that Max is still here tomorrow — the release of Max and demand that our Congress take action to stop separating families,” Rebik said.
On Monday, The Associated Press reported that Villatoro, 41, was relocated to the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, La., on Friday, and informed his wife, Gloria Villatoro, 33, Monday that he would likely board a plane for removal from the United States the next day. An official at the detention facility confirmed the scheduled departure, according to the AP.
“Max’s son will be there speaking about how this is impacting him as a youth and a working person in this community,” Rebik said. “We’ll have other youth there speaking about what family unity means to them, and how family separations really impact our entire community.”
Villatoro was among 2,059 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division during a five-day, nationwide “Cross Check” sweep targeting convicted criminals living in the country illegally. He was arrested outside his home in Iowa City on March 3 and was initially held at the Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids. He was transferred to the Hardin County Jail in Eldora before the recent move to Louisiana.
Villatoro came to the United States in 1995, according to federal court documents, and four years later pleaded guilty to tampering with records while trying to obtain a driver’s license. In that time he has fathered four children — Anthony, 15; Edna, 13; Angela, 10; and Aileen, 7 — who are all legal citizens. For the past five years Max and Gloria Villatoro have led Torre Fuerte, a Spanish-speaking congregation, at the First Mennonite Church in Iowa City.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted Villatoro a work permit about 10 years ago while he worked toward citizenship, Rebik said, and the permit was still valid when he was arrested.
On Monday, the federal government denied a stay of removal filed on Villatoro’s behalf.
Villatoro’s case has garnered national attention, Rebik said, and several thousand supporters have come forward since his arrest.
“Our center has been inundated. We have never seen the outpouring of support like we’ve seen with Max,” she said. “In three or four days, we’ve seen 30,000 people speak out for him. It’s unheard of.”
Last week, supporters delivered about 25,000 petition signatures to a regional ICE headquarters in Omaha calling for Villatoro’s release. Rebik said that if these efforts fail and Villatoro is deported, he would have to wait for Anthony Villatoro to turn 21 and petition on his father’s behalf.
“There are no actual legal channels for him to apply for citizenship and to be able to stay until his son turns 21 and can petition for his U.S. citizenship,” Rebik said. “So essentially, Max would have to hope that he’s not fatally injured in Honduras in the next six to eight years until his son can petition for him.”
In a “last-ditch effort” to keep her family together, Gloria Villatoro posted a YouTube video pleading with President Barack Obama to block the deportation.
Source: Des Moines with AP
