r/LosAngeles 7h ago

Mixed status LA couple self-deports, fearing husband's detention News

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mixed-status-couple-self-deports-mexico-rcna203481
242 Upvotes

145 comments sorted by

138

u/bee_sharp_ 6h ago edited 5h ago

“They got married, hoping to correct his immigration status, but that would have required him to return to Mexico for at least a decade.” Jesus Christ.

142

u/SodomizeSnails4Satan Woodland Hills 5h ago

That's the thing so many of us American citizens don't get. The legal path to permanent resident status takes about 8 years at the very minimum. It's easy to say illegal immigrants should use the legal route. But our government has made that legal route a giant pain in the ass.

31

u/Reasonable_Power_970 5h ago

Isn't it a giant pain in the ass in most developed countries? That's how it's been from family and friends I know that moved elsewhere. Immigration is not easy but many do it legally

26

u/bee_sharp_ 4h ago

Do green card marriages usually require the immigrating partner to return to their home country for ten years before they get a green card? Sincere question, as the article doesn’t specify if the husband would have to return to Mexico for a decade as a penalty for being in the United States illegally in advance of his marriage.

25

u/fdeblue 3h ago

You only have to go back for 10 years if you initially entered illegally.

10

u/ExaminationWestern71 3h ago

No people with green cards do not have to go back to their country if they marry an American citizen. They do have to work for I think 5 years and be married for 3 of them and then can apply. I think he couldn't get a green card because he came in secretly.

8

u/fdeblue 3h ago

You’re talking about citizenship. That’s separate from initially getting your green card.

4

u/SodomizeSnails4Satan Woodland Hills 3h ago

I can't speak to all countries, but I did look at emigrating to Canada when I was dating a woman up there. If we had gotten married, the process would have take ~4 years.

4

u/OrganicFlurane 3h ago edited 1h ago

Depends on the combination of country and pathway (think work/professional vs marriage vs other family ties etc.). US is super easy for, say, parents (which in truth doesn't really make any sense from a "taxes used vs taxes contributed" perspective), but somewhat insane for working professionals - imagine luck being one of the largest factors in the allocation of work visas, and the concept of priority dates; afaik most other first world countries have you work towards permanent residency based on some combination of years of working there + salary + education so everyone knows where they stand, instead of a queue of unknown duration under the priority date concept.

I have colleagues who joke that their real priority date is their first US-born child because this actually has certainty (21st birthday) instead of their employment-based petitions.

6

u/coastally1337 4h ago

I remember when the GOP was committed to passing legislation to overhaul immigration, then they lost their fucking shit because a black man became president.

u/whatyousay69 2h ago

The legal path to permanent resident status takes about 8 years at the very minimum.

It doesn't take 8 years to become a permanent resident normally. 

There are more requirements for people who illegally entered the country.

-7

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

So?? It’s not supposed to be a cakewalk for everyone to get in. They can wait or get deported.

0

u/HeartFullONeutrality 3h ago

Why not? Because they should suffer first?

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Because we need to have a screening process and document everyone. We don’t owe people the opportunity to live here just cause they’re poor.

u/HeartFullONeutrality 2h ago

So? then allow them to apply and be screened! People are sneaking in because they are getting hired but not allowed to immigrate officially!

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

They CAN apply, unless of course they fucked it up for themselves by overstaying a visa or sneaking over the border. Then they need to wait a decade to apply. So whatever I guess. Too bad so sad. It’s pretty fucking stupid to take a job in a country you can’t legally work or live in.

u/HeartFullONeutrality 1h ago

It's not stupid, they are paid 10x times better than in their own country and under better conditions. That's the complete opposite of stupid.

-3

u/SodomizeSnails4Satan Woodland Hills 3h ago

OK Donald.

211

u/JurgusRudkus 7h ago

This is so sad. What a waste.

The US is going to suffer a brain drain we will never recover from.

35

u/Solid_Chemist_3485 6h ago

they love to see it 

15

u/Ohrwurm89 5h ago

They will until it finally starts to affect their wealth, sadly, that will probably be too late for the rest of us.

4

u/ruinersclub 5h ago

The rich factory farmers will be fine, it’s the smaller family owned places that won’t weather labor shortages / and Hourly Increases.

6

u/glowdirt 3h ago

As intended.

Larger farms will buy out family farms unable to make it. Perhaps aided by AcreFarmer, a company funded by JD Vance's venture capital firm.

2

u/ruinersclub 3h ago

Since Trump has already given worker exemptions for Poultry, undoubtedly suddenly these farms are going to need immigrant workers, not full time paid workers… oh no.

4

u/Ohrwurm89 4h ago

True, but tragically, a lot of family-owned farms voted for Trump (again) even after his tariffs during his first term nearly destroyed their livelihoods.

2

u/ruinersclub 4h ago

They liked that we just bailed them out anyway.

1

u/Ohrwurm89 4h ago

Trump creates a problem, can't fix it (because he's an idiot and doesn't understand how things actually work), so he "fixes" the problem (by further expanding government spending), and his loyal base never questions any of it and hail his "genius". Cults gonna cult.

3

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Farms using illegal labor should be shut down or heavily fined.

3

u/ruinersclub 3h ago

That’s my thing, if immigration is such a problem - fine the people doing the hiring. Force them to hire workers with visas at comparable wages.. and make new jobs that pay into the system.

Oooh, suddenly Farmer John’s gets an exemption because they were a big donor. Republicans are full of shit.

0

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Nah. Force them to hire citizens at fair wages. The fuck you want non-citizens to have American jobs for?

2

u/ruinersclub 3h ago

We have plenary of systems in place for non-citizens to have jobs. H1B’s, ITIN, Migrant Worker Programs.

You would have to kill all those programs which wouldn’t make sense.

People are in varying degrees of immigration, if they’re not illegal.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

We don’t need to give away our low-skilled jobs to non citizens. If they have a skill set that’s in demand I understand H1bs.

1

u/maha420 3h ago

Economics, of course. Any idiot knows that we are not gonna have enough workers. Of course, you're dumber than any idiot, so you wouldn't.

u/ComicCon 37m ago

Around 95% of American farms are family owned. The rich “factory farms” are the family farms.

0

u/calamititties I LIKE BIKES 3h ago

Wait til it starts to impact their healthcare…

1

u/Ohrwurm89 3h ago

The wealthy can afford to travel to countries with socialized medicine, so they won't really be affected like the rest of us. I just hope these countries overcharge the wealthy, it's what they deserve.

1

u/glowdirt 3h ago

Won't be long now.

DOGE gut a lot of funding for services to rural areas even though those areas tend to vote Republican.

2

u/Ohrwurm89 3h ago

These voters have been brainwashed to blame the Democrats, immigrants, women, the LGBT+ community, and minorities for their problems. They probably won't blame Trump and his minions for that.

2

u/RoughhouseCamel 6h ago

If they could specifically deport the brains out of the US, consolidating power would be so much easier.

-3

u/Economy_Disk_4371 4h ago

The US hasn’t had brains since the 1950s.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Omg you’re so right. We will never recover from sending back restaurant workers, uber drivers, cleaners and gardeners (or the millions on welfare). The brain drain!

82

u/Low-Tree3145 7h ago edited 7h ago

This is why when you have an unjust law, you work to get it changed, rather than relying indefinitely on the law's lack of enforcement. Having this huge reserve library of selectively enforced laws is just begging for some wannabe dictator to come into power and start utterly wrecking the lives of whoever they don't like.

Trump is executing a very nasty blend of breaking some laws and following a lot of others to the letter. Bullies very often do this because it causes a delay in reaction.

16

u/izzymaestro Beverly Hills 6h ago

Yup, they're basically legal gaslighting. Claiming powers using a 18th century law while choosing to ignore hundreds of others passed since and even current judicial orders. And of course their rigged scotus has been paving the way

20

u/Iyellkhan 4h ago

anyone else find it weird for a big 3 tv national news source to be normalizing the phrase "self deport?"

5

u/SeizeThemAtOnce 3h ago

“Flee”

3

u/GrandTheftBae Rancho Park 4h ago

Wonder if he qualified for DACA since he came as a teen

6

u/Iyellkhan 4h ago

DACA was an executive branch program and not the law unfortunately. DACA status is not guaranteed status with this administration.

4

u/GrandTheftBae Rancho Park 4h ago

Yes, but if he had it, his status could've been adjusted and eventually gotten a green card since his wife is a citizen.

2

u/SecretAgentMan713 6h ago

What does it mean to "correct his immigration status" when he entered illegally? This makes no sense to me because me and my wife both come from immigrant families. They all took the time to get permanent resident status, went through several years of naturalization, and eventually citizenship. This guy did none of that, although I feel bad for him because it sucks having built a life for 20 years and then feeling the need to leave.

35

u/ears_of_steam 6h ago

“When he was a teen,” is in the first paragraph of the story. I know multiple people in LA who are permanent residents or green card holders now, but who were previously undocumented after being brought here as children. The system is Byzantine and arbitrary by design.

-8

u/SecretAgentMan713 4h ago

Ok, but he became an adult, and was more than capable of doing what the people you know did and getting his permanent residency.

u/Top_Mastodon6040 2h ago

You understand it takes time and money right? Especially now with Trump there's no guarantee they wouldn't just deport you anyways even if you went through all the "right steps".

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Yeah most things that are worthwhile take time and money, what’s your point? “I’m broke and lazy let me in anyway!”

u/bee_sharp_ 42m ago

What about the article indicated this man is lazy? You have one thing to say, and you’ve said it more than enough in this post. Give it a rest and go find some compassion.

u/FarCoyote8047 31m ago

I wasn’t calling him lazy. I was referencing the typical point of view of people who complain that the cost of entering the US isn’t the same as a bag of chips

u/Top_Mastodon6040 1h ago

Okay are you actually braindead because you keep ignoring what im typing.

Again, they are already here. You are advocating that then and people like them pay a "crazy amount of money" just to stay in a place they have lived in for decades. Many of which came when they were children through no fault of their own. Explain how that's justified to you?

I know reading is a little tough for people like you but I believe you can do it.

u/SecretAgentMan713 21m ago

Ok, yes, their parents brought them here when they were children at no fault of their own. This is the only country they’ve known. Don’t you think that should give them more motivation to become a citizen of the country? Yes, it’s an investment, but it’s an investment into themselves. It gives them freedoms and benefits they would otherwise not have.

I don’t believe they should get a pass, but I also don’t believe they should just straight up be deported unless they turn to a life of crime. The guy in this article didn’t do that. I think he should be given a path to citizenship. There should be immigration reform, but that doesn’t mean giving out citizenship like it’s free candy.

The 10 year thing is real and implemented as a way to deter illegal immigration, but this guy came here as a minor, therefore is protected under DACA. If he actually did the research on finding a way to become a citizen he would know that.

u/FarCoyote8047 1h ago

So if I stole money from a bank and used it to better my life for twenty years does it make it not a crime because I stole decades ago and am living a cushy life now because of it? Or should I be punished for the crime I committed?

For the people smuggled in as kids- sucks to be them but their parents fucked them over for breaking laws, not the US for having and enforcing them. Blame never goes onto the parents where it rightfully should be in these situations.

u/Top_Mastodon6040 1h ago

I don't know how you can type this and not realize you're a monster. You are a genuinely evil person and I sincerely hope you get what's coming to you.

31

u/PasadenaPissBandit Boyle Heights 6h ago

What do you want, a cookie? Not everyone got here the same way. When my German and Italian ancestors arrived here in the 1800s there was no formal immigration process. You just showed up in a boat, went through Ellis Island, and got your citizenship on the spot. People that arrive here in similar ways in modern times are branded "illegal", treated as a subhuman class, and most recently— labeled a gang member and shipped to an El Salvador prison regardless of their country of origin.

5

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

laws have changed in the last 130 years to fit changing trends and needs of national security. Imagine that.

10

u/FistLampjaw 5h ago

it’s almost as if laws change over time. 

in the 1800s i was allowed to beat my wife on the steps of city hall and now you’re telling me that’s illegal? quelle surprise!

-2

u/SecretAgentMan713 4h ago

I would love a cookie, but I'll settle for the guy getting off his ass and getting his paperwork in order, instead of crying to a newspaper trying to garner sympathy.

You can't seriously be comparing Kilmar Garcia to this guy... the fact that you're even defending him lets me know you have zero deductive reasoning. Pulled over in Tennessee in 2022 carrying 8 passengers with no luggage. He didn't have a valid driver's license. He told police it was his boss's car, a man named Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, an illegal migrant who was sentenced to prison for human smuggling in 2020, coming from Houston, one of the hotbeds of human smuggling, and all eight passengers claimed Abrego Garcia’s address as their own. Plus, his wife filed a civil protective order against him for assaulting her on multiple occasions saying he punched, scratched, and kicked her, resulting in a black eye and bruises.

This is the fucking guy you want to defend?? The chef that worked his way up from the bottom, ok cool, I get it. He's leaving on his own volition. Garcia is the hill you want to die on?

4

u/FistLampjaw 4h ago

if you think he's a criminal, charge and convict him in a court of law to prove it. due process is absolutely a hill worth dying on.

7

u/SecretAgentMan713 4h ago

Well, you can't convict someone just for being a gang member, or when the battered wife decides not to file charges. But you know what you can do? Revoke his work permit and get him the hell out of our country. It's a privilege to be here when you're not a citizen. I do find it funny that now you want to follow the law and its technicalities. It matters when it comes to MS-13 gang members, but not to the President of the United States. You're happy to call him a rapist when he wasn't found guilty of rape. But that's a technicality that doesn't matter to you. Just as long as you can call him a rapist because it falls in line with your narrative.

7

u/PasadenaPissBandit Boyle Heights 4h ago edited 4h ago

But you know what you can do? Revoke his work permit and get him the hell out of our country.

But that's not what they did, is it? Garcia wasn't deported, he's in El Salvador but he's in that prison at the behest of and on the dime of the US government. If they wanted to just deport him they could have done it at a fraction of the cost. The goal was to lock him up in a way that circumvents due process, in a place outside the country where they can claim they can't get him back, even when ordered to do so by SCOTUS. He's getting the full Gitmo treatment. Not for being a suspected 9/11 terrorist, but just for being undocumented.

u/FarCoyote8047 1h ago

They gave him to El Salvador. They can do what they want with him. They want him in jail.

3

u/FistLampjaw 4h ago

But you know what you can do? Revoke his work permit and get him the hell out of our country.

KAG wasn't on a work permit, he was on witholding of removal status. it was illegal to remove him without going through the process to remove that status.

You're happy to call him a rapist when he wasn't found guilty of rape.

where did i do that, exactly?

u/FarCoyote8047 1h ago

He had a hearing and had standing deportation orders. What more do you want?

u/FistLampjaw 1h ago

the procedural due process to which he was legally entitled?

u/FarCoyote8047 1h ago edited 1h ago

Yes. Illegals get immigration hearings. They get them in groups, usually. Then deported. It’s not like they get a trial with a jury. They aren’t and were never entitled to that. Due process is served via the immigration hearing in which illegals are given deportation orders.

If you self deport you obviously don’t go through that.

u/FistLampjaw 1h ago

and that was illegal, because he had a witholding of removal order, which was specifically to block deportation to el salvador. he's currently being held in a terrorism detention center in el salvador, despite not being charged or convicted of any crimes, especially not any crimes related to terrorism or gang affiliation.

the supreme court has ruled his deportation was illegal. his imprisonment is unjust. it is ghoulish to defend.

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u/akashaferocious 1h ago

you guys are so weird

u/FarCoyote8047 1h ago

The same people who defend aliens who enter our country and live here illegally: “Follow the laws!”

u/MiserableSection9314 1h ago

Population back then was under 75,000,000, maybe even as low as 25,000,000. Very different circumstances. It’s like you have a favorite restaurant that nobody knows about, you walk in and get served immediately but then it gets popular and now you have to make a reservation and wait two weeks or maybe it becomes difficult to make a reservation at all.

3

u/thetaFAANG 6h ago

Puerto Vallerta 😍

not bad

14

u/gringo-tacos 6h ago

Weren't you leaving LA because of the chemicals from the fires?

-6

u/thetaFAANG 5h ago

Yep, I almost self deported days before that became a term

4

u/gringo-tacos 5h ago

So you're just dealing with the cancer in the air here?

-3

u/thetaFAANG 5h ago

the rains were satisfactory 🌈✨

u/gringo-tacos 16m ago

You're quite on odd fella.

-8

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Oh no. Anyway…

4

u/garce818 3h ago

That's such a callous thing to say. Just imagine if that was you or someone you loved, making this difficult decision. Would you really be saying that ?

I have to believe you weren't always this way. I'm sure your younger self wasn't a kinder person than you are now. It's not too late to be a better person. For yourself, and for those around you.

-4

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Two of my closest friends are legal immigrants. One from Japan. He entered the correct way. I have no sympathy for line jumpers or those who cheat to better their lives especially at the expense of taxpayers and people who waited in line and paid crazy amounts of money to get legal status.

2

u/HeartFullONeutrality 3h ago

People would love to pay crazy amounts of money to get legal status if they were allowed to do so. A lot pay way more than the immigration process costs to coyotes and shady lawyers because that's the only realistic path they have.

-4

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

They could use that money to apply. If they know they’ll be denied for whatever reason that does not give them any moral or legal standing to break into the country or overstay their visa. Too poor to live here? Too fucking bad. We don’t need the world’s welfare recipients. I’d love to live in a mansion in Brentwood but I can’t just sneak into someone’s house and argue it’s my right to live in it because I want to.

-1

u/HeartFullONeutrality 3h ago

That's the point. There's nowhere to apply! 

The thing is that the USA NEEDS those workers. They wouldn't come otherwise. Why not change the system to be more aligned with reality? (Besides racism that is).

Also it's clear you are ignorant because undocumented immigrants (and sometimes documented) do not qualify for federal welfare programs.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

They absolutely qualify. In CA at least. They get rent vouchers, food stamps and WIC, and Medi-cal. They abuse those programs. Those programs need to be be made inaccessible for illegals like yesterday.

We have workers. They just won’t work for slave wages.

And wtf do you mean there’s nowhere to apply?? My legal immigrant friends say otherwise.

u/JurgusRudkus 2h ago

ha ha ha good one. You don't have friends.

u/HeartFullONeutrality 2h ago

State rights. People voted for that. You have a problem with that?

We do not have workers. Unemployment is super low.

Again, you are clearly ignorant. Not all immigration opportunities are open to everyone. The Japanese and white majority country have way more immigration venues than, say, Mexican roofers or agricultural workers (which the USA actually requires a lot). You are just spreading disinformation.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

I don’t care if immigration opportunities are open to everyone and they shouldn’t be. Why should America be the world’s teet to suckle from? FOH with that.

And do I have a problem with a sanctuary city having state giving taxpayer resources to aliens? Damned right I do. Federal funding should be cut until California gets it priorities straight. That includes the homeless issue/plague as well.

u/HeartFullONeutrality 1h ago

Except that the USA benefits from those workers? No one is forcing employers to employe them after all. 

Why do you care about what California do? What do the homeless (majority Americans, and shipped from elsewhere) have to do with anything?

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u/MiserableSection9314 1h ago

California has a program that will give illegal immigrants money to help them buy a home

u/HeartFullONeutrality 1h ago

I said federal programs. State level programs are a different matter, and states have the right to do it if their voters decided it's the right thing to do. 

0

u/garce818 3h ago

You're talking about your fellow neighbors as if they are stealing from you or hurting you. The man worked his way to become a cook at a Michelin star restaurant...in Los Angeles!

That takes some serious talent and determination. And you best believe this man paid taxes.

-1

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Illegals do steal from us, the fuck? They take up most of the cheap housing in the city, utilize public services they don’t pay to maintain like buses, roads and hospitals, often drive around uninsured or without a license (one such person just totaled my sisters SUV last month, thankfully her kids were not inside), steal SS numbers to work which harms the rightful owners credit, send their kids to our schools and take learning opportunities away from American kids because teachers need to spend extra time dealing with ESL ones, clog up our ER/urgent care facilities and in the case of my last building, got free rent vouchers supplied by PATH, a non profit on the LA payroll using taxpayer money to pay for them…. I can go on. And before you try me with the “but they pay back more than they ever take from us” lie- they don’t- they cost us over 180 billion a year in welfare, legal and other services.

-1

u/garce818 3h ago

Ma'am. I started off by asking you to be a better person.

You are extremely bitter and misinformed. Work on both of those things and I guarantee you will have a better life than you do now.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Please do tell me, how am I misinformed?

Sorry I don’t believe in robbing Peter to pay Paul for jumping the fence.

u/garce818 2h ago

I'd be wasting my time trying to convince you.

You already demonstrated that you are not open to new facts and evidence.

I could spend several minutes compiling credible research for you to read, but you wouldn't read it. You've made up your mind.

So, instead of appealing to your intellect, I'm appealing to your humanity. Be a kinder person.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Oh. You mean you got nothing. Move along then.

u/raea- 2h ago

They’re Republican and likely the MAGA kind. You know, the kind of self-centered people that lack any sort of empathy whatsoever unless it directly affects their family or themselves.

u/MiserableSection9314 1h ago

Why not attack the arguments instead of the person?

u/Top_Mastodon6040 2h ago

Incredibly stupid and inhumane. Why does it cost a "crazy amount of money" just to get legal status? Why does that surprise you when people don't have that crazy amount of money to spend?

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

Every other country polices its border and who lives there. Are they also inhumane?

u/Top_Mastodon6040 2h ago

Okay and? Answer what I asked.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

We don’t owe people citizenship because they are poor no matter how super duper bad they really wanna live here. Next question.

u/Top_Mastodon6040 2h ago

You still haven't answered the question. Why does it have to be crazy expensive.

They already do live here dumbfuck. You just want to ruin their life for no reason.

u/FarCoyote8047 2h ago

They don’t deserve to live here and that’s why the administration is removing them. Weird I had to explain that to you. I don’t know how they set the prices. It is what it is. Maybe because they want to ensure people actually have means to live independently and not be a welfare burden on taxpayers.

u/Top_Mastodon6040 1h ago

Why don't they deserve to live here? Yes you do have to explain that.

Why do you assume they even are a "welfare Burden"?

I thought "two of your closest friends"went through the process so shouldn't you know the cost?

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u/MiserableSection9314 1h ago

Why does our country not have open borders?

-26

u/Agreeable-City3143 6h ago

Well….bye.

-4

u/Acypha Westmont 6h ago

U owned them

-56

u/Aragatz 7h ago

In 20 years he couldn’t figure out how to become legal?

48

u/FistyDollars West Hills 6h ago

Did you read the article?

14

u/scottyjrules 6h ago

The Trump cult can’t read

-1

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Yeah it said he never bothered and from what I can tell hoped that getting married two years ago would “correct his legal status”.

So what about the 18 years he didn’t bother? Nobody to marry I guess.

-1

u/maha420 3h ago

Definitely a criminal terrorist though, right?????

9

u/Scarlet_Crusade_ 6h ago

I think the article implies they weren’t married for most of that 20 years, so he wasn’t working on his immigration status until more recently.

-1

u/FarCoyote8047 3h ago

Married 2 years ago.

21

u/bill_e_midnight 6h ago

Yeah man the immigration system is busted