After Living in the US for 30 Years, Brazilian Gets Deported

04/20/2018 - 11h35

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SILAS MARTI

FROM NEW YORK

Cristina Viana woke up early in her home state of New Hampshire, located in the Northeast of the US, and drove her father, Elvecio, to the airport where he would board a one-way flight.

The 65-year-old and São Paulo native who worked in the US for nearly three decades as a driver for a factory that made kitchen cabinets did not manage to overturn his deportation order despite the fact that his daughter is a naturalized American citizen and he has American grandchildren.

Two weeks earlier, when a judge upheld their appeal and stated that he needed more time to try the case, the family, who resides in the Nashua suburb, took a breath of relief. Soon after, however, they got the bad news.

"Just like that, after doing everything right, a few days go by and then he has to leave the country as if he were a criminal. It's very painful," Elvecio's daughter said.

Elvecio's lawyer, Robert McDaniel, who has represented several immigrants throughout the who find themselves in a similar situation, is still working on the case and trying to reverse Elvecio's deportation order, but until the procedures are carried out and a response is given, his client will have to stay out of the US.

"They're sending away a part of the American Constitution along with him," Mr. McDaniel said. "He did not have a fair trial, nor was he given a chance to be heard in court."

Summary deportation procedures such as Elvecio's have been on the rise ever since Donald Trump took office in January 2017 and began implementing hard-line anti-immigration policies.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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