#Not1More Deportation

Man jailed for deportation returns to Norristown family

POSTED: June 21, 2014 on the Philadelphia Inquirer Website

Arrested in January, Israel Resendiz Hernandez spent 144 days in Pennsylvania jails – some on a hunger strike – as he faced deportation to Mexico for illegally entering the United States last fall.

On Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials allowed Resendiz to return to his wife and daughters in Norristown. He remains in jeopardy but is free, pending his request for asylum. A hearing on his case is scheduled for August.

He came home to a jubilant reception at Tortilleria la Familia, the family’s grocery in the heavily Mexican-immigrant western end of the municipality. Amid piñatas, green streamers, and balloons, Resendiz, 34, was greeted by his 29-year-old wife, Pilar Molina; daughters Caitlin, 9, and Ariana, 3; and about 20 supporters.

Previous efforts had failed to win his release. He refused food for 19 days to bring attention to his case. Supporters spotlighted it with civil disobedience, blocking ICE prisoner vans. In February, his wife was arrested in a protest in front of the White House.

 

What seemed to work this time was a filing last week by his Philadelphia attorney, Thomas Griffin. With letters from doctors, psychologists, and Caitlin’s teacher, it argued that Resendiz’s family had suffered without him.

The documents show Molina was hospitalized for five days in May with “suicidal ideation.” Caitlin was diagnosed with insomnia, and depression and anxiety due to her father’s absence, and “thought of cutting herself and starving herself,” records show.

Previously, ICE said Resendiz had to be jailed because he was a flight risk. The order releasing him this week did not cite a reason.

Read full article on the Philadelphia Inquirer Website. 

 

 
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