By Maria Santana, Fidel Gutierrez, Caroll Alvarado, Marlon Sorto and Zoe Sottile, NCS
A Mexican couple detained by the Department of Homeland Security had been in a position to reunite with their son, an 18-year-old US citizen, simply a day before he died of cancer.
The couple, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, travelled to Durango, Mexico to be with their son Kevin González Saturday night in Durango, Mexico. The teenager died Sunday afternoon (native time), his household instructed NCS.
Kevin, who was born within the US however raised in Mexico, fell in poor health whereas visiting household in Chicago over Christmas, based on NCS affiliate WLS. He was identified with stage 4 colon cancer.
“What I want to say to people is thank you for helping my family to be able to have the choice,” the 18-year-old – his face gaunt – instructed NCS in Durango shortly after reuniting with his dad and mom.
Avilés and Amaya had been in tears as they embraced Kevin after taking a bus to Durango, a state in northwest Mexico.
His dad and mom, Mexican nationals, had each beforehand been deported from the US after getting into “illegally,” DHS instructed NCS Friday.
Kevin González, 18, with his dad and mom.
Photo: NCS through NCS Newsource
In a determined bid to see their son once more after his analysis, the couple tried to reenter the US in April, WLS reported. They had been each arrested 14 April close to Douglas, Arizona, based on DHS. They say they spent weeks in detention before they had been deported and in a position to reunite with their son.
DHS instructed NCS the couple had utilized for B1/B2 visas – momentary nonimmigrant visas – “which were denied due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States.”
The couple had been deported to Mexico Friday, DHS mentioned. A US district decide in Tucson, Arizona, ordered the discharge of González’s dad and mom on Thursday morning, based on WLS.
Their son flew to Mexico round a week in the past, based on WLS, hoping to be reunited with his dad and mom before he died.
“We managed to make my son’s dream come true: to be with him again, to love him, to give him the love we could not give him during these months when he was not with us,” mentioned Avilés after reuniting with his son.
“We sought every option. They denied us visas. They detained us at the border,” he mentioned.
He confirmed his tattoos of his son’s title in addition to Saint Jude – the patron saint of misplaced causes and determined conditions.
Speaking Saturday, his father referred to as Kevin “very strong.”
Amaya cried as she held her son.
Kevin González’s mom referred to as her son the “best gift.”
Photo: NCS through NCS Newsource
“These tears are from emotion, from seeing him again, from touching him again, from telling him how much I love him,” she mentioned.
DHS mentioned Avilés had been arrested and charged a number of instances for various crimes, which ranged from minor to severe, and was deported in 2011. DHS didn’t reply to questions on the place or when the alleged expenses happened, and the outcomes of these circumstances are unclear.
Interviewed before reuniting with his son, Avilés mentioned Friday he was “a humble worker” who labored as a taxi driver and truck driver in Durango.
In detention, he mentioned, they had been handled “like criminals” and had been chained by the hands and ft for their courtroom appearances.
He additionally mentioned he and his spouse had been denied humanitarian visas to see their son. “We went through a lot, and in the end, all I want is to be with him,” he mentioned.
DHS mentioned, “Anabel illegally entered the United States for the first time in 2005 and was later removed back to Mexico in 2011.”
Rep Delia Ramirez, who represents the district the place González is receiving therapy in Chicago, expressed her help for the household in a assertion Thursday.
“Rejecting visas to Kevin’s family did not protect our communities,” she mentioned. “Putting families through the pain, stress, and fear of separation is not making our loved ones safer. Detaining immigrants for months in for-profit, inhumane detentions is not securing our nation.”
Kevin had mentioned he would have a good time Mother’s Day Sunday by giving his mom “lots of hugs, over and over.”
-NCS