Watch our panel discussion<\/a> at 7 p.m. Monday, May 11 on WVIA-TV.<\/p>\nFrom there, Tenezaca dreamed, maybe she could study nursing, which pays a lot better than warehousing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, I have to take it, like, it’s some dream I always had,\u201d Tenezaca, 20, said, seated inside her parents’ South Scranton home. \u201cSo, I was telling him, I was like, \u2018I’m so nervous.\u2019 Like, \u2018I hope I get this job.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018Don’t worry.\u2019 Like, \u2018Just be calm.\u2019 Like, \u2018Go to sleep.\u2019 Like, \u2018You\u2019ll get it. Don’t worry.\u2019 “<\/p>\n
They fell asleep on the couch. She woke up, still groggy, about 5 a.m., with her husband noisily preparing tea or coffee before heading off to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was doing all that noise, and then I didn’t say anything, I didn’t get up, I didn’t do anything,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then all I remember was him coming towards us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lema said goodbye to her and their two daughters, Victoria, 2, and Ana, 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kissed me on my front (forehead). He kissed my two daughters on their cheek. He was like, \u2018Okay, I see you later,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
If she wanted to bring him lunch at his job site, as she often did, he said she could.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don’t, it’s fine,\u201d Lema told his wife. \u201cI hope you do good in your interview, and we’ll talk later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tenezaca went back to sleep, but woke maybe 20 minutes later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know why I got up … I literally just stand up from my couch, and I see my phone ringing, and it says my husband, and then I answer,\u201d Tenezaca said.<\/p>\n
It was a Monday, three days before last Thanksgiving, a holiday rooted in immigration. As he usually did, Lema, a roofer, headed out in his van to pick up employees for a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome get the van,\u201d he told his wife when she answered the phone. \u201cImmigration got me.’ I was so in shock that when he said that I was like, \u2018What?\u2019 That’s all I said was like, \u2018What?\u2019 And then he was like, \u2018Aida, come get the van. Immigration got me.\u2019 He couldn’t, he didn’t even say I love you, or I’m sorry, or I don’t know, because immigration was right there in front of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration agents surrounded the van in South Scranton, not far from where she now lives with her parents, Tenezaca said.<\/p>\n
![\"Scranton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778404692_304_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Alexander Monelli<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WVIA News<\/p>\n
Scranton resident Aida Tenezaca cries as she talks about the 2025 deportation of her husband, Virgilio Lema, a native of Ecuador who had been living in the U.S. illegally since 2016. ‘I know he didn’t come the legal way, but still it’s the most inhumane way to do this, to separate families, especially when one has a family,’ said Tenezaca, who is now raising their two young daughters alone.<\/p>\n
A sign of the times<\/p>\n
The story, repeated thousands of times across the United States in the last 16 months, illustrates the heartbreaking effects of President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown. A friend of Tenezaca\u2019s family confirmed she told him the story, too.<\/p>\n
Lema was in the United States illegally. A native Ecuadoran, he entered Texas in 2016 at age 15. He never committed a crime after arriving and simply worked toward a better life.<\/p>\n
He found it in Scranton.<\/p>\n
Tenezaca, an American citizen born in Queens, New York, knew his status. They had talked about ICE catching up to him someday, leaving her and their two children behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I was going to be next,\u201d she said. \u201cI really didn’t, and then now I’m doing all this by myself. I’m still shocked, so shocked this all happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘He was a roofer’<\/p>\n
They met each other casually because Lema was Tenezaca\u2019s best friend\u2019s cousin. He spent his early days in the U.S. in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of his family are roofers. Like my godfather, he was a roofer,\u201d Tenezaca said.<\/p>\n
They renewed acquaintances years later when he friend-requested her on Facebook, which she thought little of because he was her friend\u2019s relative.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then he starts texting me, and then just starts getting serious from there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lema moved to Scranton. Not long after that, they moved in together and Tenezaca became pregnant with Victoria.<\/p>\n
She graduated from West Scranton High School in June 2023 and started attending Marywood University in the fall. The next year, she felt the stress of balancing schoolwork and caring for a child and decided to leave school and concentrate on her newborn.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn’t pressure me. Also, he wanted me to go to school. He wanted me to go forth with my dreams. But I was like, I want my family, and I feel like my family is more important than college,\u201d Tenezaca said. \u201cI mean, I could go back to college anytime, you know, but family, my kids are going to be small just once, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
They married in February 2025.<\/p>\n
Learning the truth<\/p>\n
She learned of his immigration status only a couple of years earlier. When he entered in 2016, immigration authorities gave him a September 2017 court hearing.<\/p>\n
He skipped the hearing, never understanding the implications, she said. A local immigration lawyer said missing an immigration court date virtually assures deportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was 17. He wanted to make money,\u201d Tenezaca said. \u201cEveryone that comes here migrating wants to make money (because they have) to pay all that debt that [it] cost them to come over here. Because when you come over here through the border, it’s not free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lema had to pay \u201cguides,\u201d also known as coyotes, $15,000 or $20,000 to get him into the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I mean, he’s not going to give up one day to go to a court,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then maybe he was scared, like they (ICE agents) were going to take him that day or something. So, he preferred to go out on the roof and work.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Scranton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778404693_528_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Alexander Monelli<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WVIA News<\/p>\n
Scranton resident Aida Tenezaca holds a family photo showing herself, left, with daughters Ana and Victoria and husband Virgilio Lema.<\/p>\n
Photos for memories<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unknown how hard Immigration and Customs Enforcement looked for Lema right after that, but he remained in the U.S. for more than eight years. ICE began looking a lot harder for undocumented immigrants once Trump began his second term.<\/p>\n
For years after he arrived, Virgilio Lema just installed roofs, stayed out of trouble, attended Catholic Mass with his family, played with his daughters and adored his wife.<\/p>\n
Tenezaca said her husband has no criminal record. An ICE database published online by the Deportation Data Project doesn\u2019t specifically name Lema\u2019s arrest but shows two arrests on the day he was arrested. Both were for immigration law violations.<\/p>\n
In the front room of her parents\u2019 home, Tenezaca flipped through photos of their days together for a WVIA reporter and videographer.<\/p>\n
Her baby shower before Victoria came along.<\/p>\n
A picture with Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera, perhaps on Palm Sunday last year.<\/p>\n
A photo on the George Washington Bridge, a main artery into New York City. With traffic at a standstill, they simply decided to get out of their car for a bit.<\/p>\n
Other photos at a local pumpkin patch, on top of the Empire State Building, their wedding after Magisterial District Judge Paul Ware married them, and her graduation party.<\/p>\n
She remembers Lema\u2019s joy seeing her graduate high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Why are you so happy?\u2019 Like, \u2018I just graduated.\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut for him, he never graduated. Over there in Ecuador, it’s like, almost no one goes forth in school. Just grade school, and that’s it. And so, he was so happy to see me graduate. I was so happy to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another photo, she\u2019s \u201cpregnant big.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt insecure because I feel so big, and he just looked at me. He was looking at me like he admired me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a photo he snapped with her cell phone after she gave birth to Victoria, she\u2019s asleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was taking care of our baby while I slept,\u201d she said. \u201cI was tired, but look at him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lema smiles broadly in the selfie.<\/p>\n
Photos for the future <\/p>\n
Nowadays, few people as young as Tenezaca have printed copies of photos, but these prints carry a purpose. She had about 90 printed to support a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services I-130 application filed after his deportation.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a petition to admit an \u201calien relative\u201d into the United States and grant the relative a permanent resident card, better known as a green card.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the petition for a spouse, saying, basically stating that I’m American and we’re married and we’re not married just for the papers,\u201d Tenezaca said. \u201cWe’re married because we’re in love. We have kids, you know? … And I literally have every moment when we’ve been together.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Scranton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778404694_107_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Scranton resident Aida Tenezaca, right, is seen in a family photo with daughters Ana and Victoria and husband Virgilio Lema.<\/p>\n
‘This is not for real’<\/p>\n
She prefers these to the images burned in her mind of the day ICE arrested her husband.<\/p>\n
After she hung up the phone, \u201cI just started screaming,\u201d Tenezaca said.<\/p>\n
She went outside and called her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, this is not for real because my kids were still sleeping. I was like, no, this is not for real,\u201d she said. \u201cI call my mom … and she’s already crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lema had already called his father-in-law.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called my dad first, and he told my dad, \u2018Take care of my girls, take care of my wife, immigration got me,\u201d Tenezaca said as she broke into tears.<\/p>\n
She asked her mother to come over to take care of the girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to go see him. I need to go see him. I need to go say bye,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After her parents arrived, she used her cell phone to locate her husband. ICE took him to the Pike County prison, where its Northeast Pennsylvania detainees are held.<\/p>\n
Tenezaca and her brother drove there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I got there, I was like, my husband’s here. I need to see my husband,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She saw him through a window once she was inside the entrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd all I remember was I saw him, and he looked at me, but he went to the side,\u201d Tenezaca said. \u201cHe didn’t want to look at me. He doesn’t like me crying. He hates me crying. He doesn’t like me to cry or feel sad … I was bawling my eyes out.\u201d<\/p>\n
She saw shackles on his legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband’s never done anything (criminal) here in the United States, ever,\u201d she said. \u201cI was devastated to see I saw him there. He stepped aside, and then I tried to talk to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICE agents asked Lema, but he wouldn’t speak to her. Instead, they brought out a co-worker of her husband\u2019s arrested at the same time.<\/p>\n
She apologized to the co-worker for his arrest. He asked her to give his wallet to his wife.<\/p>\n
She drove home.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone came to my house, all our family and friends and like started saying, [they’re] ‘so sorry\u2019 for me,\u201d Tezecana said. \u201cIt was like, I lost him, like I lost him, like he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home in Ecuador <\/p>\n
On Dec. 2, eight days later, Lema was back in Ecuador, living in his hometown. On Dec. 13, Tenezaca and their daughters flew there to visit.<\/p>\n
She thought about staying because she felt she couldn\u2019t raise two daughters on her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I kept thinking about it, and I was like, I can’t do that. I need my kids over here, and I need to make money,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, he can’t make money over there, the economy over there is horrible, and there’s no jobs. There’s no way to get a job. So, I just decided I have to stay here with my parents, and my kids are going to daycare now. They’re learning something every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Ecuador, \u201cthey would not have, right now, what they have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want my kids here. You know, there’s opportunities here. There’s stuff for me to do here,\u201d she said. \u201cOver there, if you don’t have a car, you can’t go anywhere. And over there, everything is money. Everything. It’s the same thing here, but the economy is really low over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, within a month, she returned to the United States. She sends her husband money now and then to help. In Ecuador, even $100 can go a long way.<\/p>\n
Faith and forms<\/p>\n
She\u2019s putting her faith in the immigration system and the I-130 form that allows bringing home an \u201calien relative.\u201d She filed that in February.<\/p>\n
She hasn\u2019t heard anything, but an immigration lawyer told her to expect a decision in a year to two years. After that, she\u2019ll have to file another form, an I-601, which asks the federal government to allow someone in because a spouse faces hardships in the United States.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said that could take two to three years, meaning their oldest daughter could be 7 years old before they\u2019re reunited.<\/p>\n
If they\u2019re reunited.<\/p>\n
Because of what happened, she never made the interview for the Geisinger job. She\u2019s still at the warehouse.<\/p>\n
![\"Victoria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778404695_247_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Alexander Monelli<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WVIA News<\/p>\n
Victoria Lema, 2, holds the hand of her mother, Aida Tenezaca, during an interview in Scranton.<\/p>\n
The sadness left behind<\/p>\n
Each evening, she talks with her husband by phone. They update each other on their lives. Recently, she relayed that Ana started walking, an event Lema missed.<\/p>\n
![\"Aida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778404696_242_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Alexander Monelli<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WVIA News<\/p>\n
Aida Tenezaca holds daughter Ana as daughter Victoria stands next to her.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s aware many Americans feel her husband should have been deported.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he didn’t come the legal way, but still it’s the most inhumane way to do this, to separate families, especially when one has a family,\u201d Tenezaca said. \u201cFor me, it’s so inhumane. It’s not something a human should do, separate families, especially families that are this young. We’re both so young. My kids are so young, and just because he came here illegal to take him away from his family doesn’t that does not fit right with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her husband, she said, worked on roofs, and that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn’t doing anything illegal. The only (thing) illegal was him being here,\u201d she said. \u201cBut still, that’s not fair. It’s really not.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she takes her daughters out in public, she feels sadness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see other families, and they’re all mom, dad and kids, and my kids are probably thinking, where’s my dad, you know?\u201d Tenezaca said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for somebody to take that away from somebody that’s just not, it doesn’t fit right. Till this day, I’m still devastated. I’m passing through really hard times,” she said. “I mean, growing up two kids, it’s really hard, especially because they’re still younger … And they need a father figure, and right now they don’t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The night before, as they cuddled on the couch that unfolded into a bed in their West Scranton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-188529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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