Union City man facing deportation given extension

A Union City grandfather was temporarily spared deportation on Friday after meeting with immigration officials while about 100 supporters — including Newark Archbishop Joseph Tobin, among other faith leaders from around the state, and Sen. Bob Menendez — rallied on his behalf.

Catalino Guerrero was given an extension, but he must report back to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on May 22, said his attorney, Cesar Martin Estela of Newark.

Minutes after exiting the Peter Rodino federal building in Newark, Guerrero was greeted with hugs from clergy and other supporters, who surrounded him as he walked to Grace Episcopal Church and cameras recorded his every move. Inside the church, immigration advocate Richard Morales provided an update and Guerrero, speaking softly and in Spanish, said he was happy to be able to return home. His family sat in the pew behind him.

Guerrero said he wished President Donald Trump, whose campaign focused on cracking down on illegal immigration, would change his mind and his immigration policies.

"What he's doing is not just," he said in Spanish. "There are a lot of people that are being deported for no cause or crime."

Estela, the attorney, said he submitted an application on behalf of Guerrero for a six-month stay of removal, and immigration officials will now review that application. A decision could possibly be given at their next meeting, on May 22, he said.

The attorney said he plans to file a separate application on behalf of Guerrero for permanent residency. Guerrero is eligible to apply for permanent residency, he said, because he was a victim of a crime. In 2007, he said, someone entered Guerrero's home, robbed him and threatened his life. Estela said that with Guerrero's help, police were able to make an arrest. In the past, he said, attorneys for Guerrero had focused on his health condition.

"The application includes a copy of our strategy," Estela said.

Luis Martinez, a spokesman for ICE, confirmed that Guerrero must still report to immigration officials.

“Catalino Guerrero, a Mexican national unlawfully present in the U.S., was ordered removed from the United States in 2009 by an immigration judge. Guerrero is presently not in ICE custody, but must periodically report to ICE as a condition of his release,” he said in an emailed statement.

Guerrero reported to his meeting shortly after 9 a.m., and walked out a little more than an hour later.

Guerrero, who has four children and four grandchildren, has deportation orders, and he was told last month to bring a valid passport to Friday's meeting with immigration officials.

“This is our country, and these are the people that are part of our country, and our community,’’ said John Mennell, the rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, who addressed clergy and immigrant advocates who planned to participate in the rally.

Earlier in the morning, faith leaders and immigrant advocates gathered in a conference room at the Courtyard Newark Downtown on Broad Street before walking to the federal building. As the snow fell, about  50 people chanted "Build communities, not a wall," and as they approached Guerrero, who was waiting for them alongside Menendez and Tobin near the federal building, they started to say: "Catalino, Catalino, estamos contigo," which translates to "Catalino, Catalino, we are with you. "

Throngs of media and supporters surrounded Guerrero as he, Menendez and Tobin made their way to a podium set up under a canopy. There, clergy from different denominations prayed, and Menendez and Tobin addressed the crowd.

Menendez called Guerrero  "a good man, not a bad hombre," and said he hoped Trump was watching.

The Democratic senator from Paramus, whose roots are in Union City, said America needs to be a nation that doesn't treat grandfathers like gangbangers with criminal records who Trump has said were the targets of his immigration policies.

"Today, it's about Catalino and my God if he can be deported, then we truly are at the verge of mass deportation,'' Menendez said. "This man has no reason to be deported from the United States of America. He is the embodiment of the immigration experience and aspirations for a better life."

Menendez added in Spanish that Guerrero is a decent man, a family man who owns his own house and has paid taxes, a man with no criminal record.

"Today, he is going through a nightmare," the senator said. "He's a good man, and that's why the immigration department should accept his petition to not be deported."

Tobin, who, like Menendez, spoke in English and Spanish, pointed to Guerrero's longstanding ties to the community, saying he is the grandfather of a large and stable family. He thanked those in attendance, saying that they are putting a face on people who are treated as "statistics or as demons."

"You can see what Catalino looks like and how he lives and how he has lived,'' Tobin said.

The cardinal said what Guerrero was going through should lead people to question the immigration system.

"It lets us know that the enforcement of the broken immigration system is capricious and unjust," Tobin said.

Communities of faith believe in a nation of laws, Tobin said, but most people agree that the immigration system is broken. Faith communities, he said, should stand and help people like Guerrero.

"I think it's appropriate for churches, synagogues and mosques to walk the talk, and what that means is that not simply that they believe in some stuff, but they put their hearts, minds and lives on the line,'' the cardinal said. "What the churches are doing is not harboring criminals, but what they are doing is accompanying here in public people who are suffering and are in danger of being unjustly persecuted."

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Guerrero met with immigration officials and two lawyers as the protesters waited outside and chanted, "Hear us now as we pray, let him stay, let him stay."

The check-in with a deportation officer is part of the routine supervision of unauthorized immigrants who have been ordered out of the country by immigration judges. Guerrero has checked in before and has been given a year or two to report back. But last month, when he met with ICE officials, he was told to bring a valid passport on March 10.

In January, Trump signed executive orders that laid out categories of undocumented immigrants who would be subject to priority removals; the categories, for example, would be for those charged with or convicted of a crime, those who are subject to a final order of removal, or undocumented immigrants who have “abused” any program related to receiving public benefits. The orders also say that people with final administrative deportation orders are a priority. It gives individual immigration officers the power to decide if a person should be detained based on whether they believe the person poses a risk to public safety or national security.

Trump  supporters who back his immigration policies say his executive orders are designed to protect the country.

Steve Lonegan, a former Bogota mayor who was the New Jersey state chair for Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, said he supports immigration when people follow the laws. He said he could not comment directly on Guerrero’s case.

“Each case has to be tried individually,’’ he said. “I would leave the immigration court to decide on this.”

Estela, Guerrero's attorney, said that under President Barack Obama's immigration policies, those with final deportation orders were already a priority. But Guerrero and his family said Trump's new orders have heightened their fears. Members of Guerrero's family say they worry that he could be deported.

“We are praying that it does not happen. If in a moment that happens, we have various organizations that are helping us, and we hope they will mobilize to help him,’’ his daughter Veronica said Thursday evening in advance of the hearing, adding that Tobin and Menendez's attendance gave her additional hope.

Morales, the immigration policy director for the PICO National Network, which has advocated on Guerrero's behalf, said he saw no reason for ICE to not approve the stay on Friday.

"ICE should immediately exercise prosecutorial discretion and grant him a permanent stay of removal,'' he said.

Guerrero, who was born in Mexico, said he immigrated to the United States in 1991 and then secured a work permit and a Social Security card. Unbeknownst to him, Guerrero said in an earlier interview, the person who was providing him with legal advice applied for political asylum on his behalf, which was the reason he obtained a work permit. His application was denied, he said. Years later, he said, he discovered that an order of removal had been issued.

Guerrero's daughter Veronica said that when he came to the United States he was just trying to provide for his family and that he should be allowed to stay.

“He deserves the opportunity to stay in this country,’’ she said Thursday evening. “I know that the way he came to this country was not the right way, but he was just trying to get his family in a better economical condition and also to escape from the insecure life that we had in our country.

“He has not done anything wrong, and he has just tried to work here legally,’’ she added. “He has worked here for more than 25 years, and he was trying to do the right thing to survive here. He always worked for whatever he got.”

Guerrero has worked various jobs since he first came to the U.S. Most recently, he said, he worked for his son’s moving company and delivered food for local restaurants. In recent years, he said, he has battled health issues, including a stroke and diabetes.