STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Just one month after completing his first year in the National Guard, Jesus says his life changed drastically. <\/p>\n
His stepfather, a native of Mexico who came to America for a better life, was allegedly taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he was walking to work on Tuesday in Port Richmond.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy stepfather \u2014 who has raised me for as long as I can remember and who I consider my true father \u2014 was taken into custody…Early that morning, my sister called me, hysterical, that my father was detained,” said the 22-year-old Port Richmond resident.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that moment, I felt shock, anger, and disbelief. How could this be happening to my father in the very same country I proudly serve?\u201d added Jesus who requested to only be referred to by his first name.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with the Advance\/SILive.com, Jesus said his father, whose name has been withheld due to the legal process, had never been convicted of a crime, so he was confused as to why he has been detained by ICE. He said he learned that ICE agents were allegedly \u201clooking for someone else,\u201d but picked up his father instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty upset, you know, because I\u2019m serving my country proudly. I don\u2019t have any regrets. If they asked me if I would do it again, I would. I\u2019m proud to serve my country…I just want my father back; that\u2019s all I want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
About his dad<\/p>\n
Jesus said his father came to the U.S. to \u201cbetter himself.\u201d He met and fell in love with Jesus\u2019s mother after arriving in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom already had me when she met my father, and he took me in as his son, and he\u2019s been raising me ever since. I have a strong bond with him. Even though he\u2019s not my blood, he\u2019s still my father because he raised me. He took care of me, and he\u2019s been with me ever since I can remember,\u201d said Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s made me into the man that I\u2019ve become. He\u2019s a really humble person. He doesn\u2019t get into trouble; he has no criminal record. So this is really a strong hit for me because he hasn\u2019t done anything,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Help from fellow soldiers<\/p>\n
Upon learning her father was detained by ICE, Jesus\u2019 youngest sister — who is a member of the JROTC at Port Richmond High School and also wants to serve in the U.S. Military — immediately jumped into action. She reached out to another soldier, who connected them with service member Yesenia Mata<\/a>, executive director of La Colmena. The Port Richmond-based nonprofit has been offering services to immigrants in the asylum process, and has also been conducting ICE watches<\/a> in the Port Richmond community where ICE activity has been reported over the last week.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth soldiers contacted understood the urgency of the situation\u2014not only because we wear the same uniform, but because they are also children of immigrants. Their support reminded me of the bond we share as soldiers, and the deep understanding that comes from shared experiences,” said Jesus.<\/p>\n Mata noted that La Colmena is advocating on Jesus\u2019s father\u2019s behalf. Through the recently launched \u201cWelcoming Staten Island Initiative,<\/a>\u201d a network of organizations are working to protect and inform immigrant families of ICE activity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing that the reality is that even if we have the right paperwork and are providing even the most compelling story, what\u2019s happening is that people are still being deported,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are here to let the public know what is happening. Because even if we file the correct paperwork, and do everything we can, ICE is not respecting anything, and they\u2019re just deporting people.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has said the purpose of the ramped up immigration enforcement is to rid the country of \u201ccriminals.\u201d However, many deportees have no criminal record. According to the White House, ICE has deported nearly 200,000 undocumented immigrants, of which 47,885 were charged or convicted for assault; 16,552 with charges or convictions for sexual assaults and 2,699 with charges or convictions for homicides.<\/p>\n \u2018Emotionally overwhelming\u2019 experience<\/p>\n Jesus said the experience has been \u201cemotionally overwhelming,\u201d but assistance from fellow soldiers is helping him through the process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe camaraderie from my fellow soldiers has made a tremendous difference. I am doing everything in my power to help my father,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople often don\u2019t realize how many immigrants and children of immigrants serve in uniform. I share my story to make visible what is too often overlooked: we are here, we serve proudly, and what is happening to the families of service members is not right,\u201d added Jesus. \u201cThere have been documented cases of service members and veterans being detained or deported, and my family is now living that reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Why he chose to serve<\/p>\n Jesus said he always wanted to give back to the country that gave so much to him.<\/p>\n \u201cI have always been proud to serve. I wanted to better myself, and I thought joining the Army would really help me with that, and help me reach the goals I want in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jesus said his father was so proud at his military graduation ceremony. \u201cMy whole family came to see me when I graduated last year in Atlanta, Georgia,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were so proud.\u201c<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Just one month after completing his first year in the National Guard, Jesus says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-45877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}