Hours count down for a Derby family

Luis Barrios, who is days away from being deported, poses with his wife Dora, left, and son Lester, 16, at his home in Derby, Conn., on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Barrios, a native from Guatemala, has lived in Derby for 25 years. The attorney for the father of four said he has no criminal record. That changed in a February meeting, when Barrios met with ICE and his stay request was denied. Activists attribute the shift to the deportation priorities outlined by President Donald Trump, which expanded the number and type of immigrants to be targeted. less Luis Barrios, who is days away from being deported, poses with his wife Dora, left, and son Lester, 16, at his home in Derby, Conn., on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Barrios, a native from Guatemala, has lived in Derby ... more Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close Hours count down for a Derby family 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

DERBY — The smile never leaves Luis Barrios’ face as he relives the life he built for his family in these United States.

“Look, this is Jessica’s diploma,” he says proudly holding her 2016 Derby High diploma.

His fingers quickly point out other highlights captured in photographs that line a four-sided mantle around a flat-screen Vizio TV in their living room.

A young Jessica, now a 19-year-old University of Bridgeport freshman, holds her even younger brother, Lester, now a Platt Tech mechatronics student. The twins, Cindy and Gabriela, now 11 and fifth-graders at Bradley School, drape their arms around each other. And a collage of this seemingly all-American family posed in various happy scenes is framed with the words: “Live Well, Laugh Often and Love Much.”

“I’ll never forget when Jessica was young playing in their backyard,” said Marylou Wagner, the Barrios’ next-door neighbor on Chestnut Street. “I told her: “You sure have a lot of fun things” citing an above-ground pool, a swing set and two horses on springs. She said: ‘My daddy wants us to be a happy family.’ ”

Wagner paused before saying: “That just struck me as being so beautiful. I never heard a child say anything like that. I’ll never forget it.”

But the happiness in the Barrios home is about to be torn away. Come 2 a.m. Thursday morning, Luis must leave his home of the past 25 years and return to Guatemala per orders of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In Guatemala he has no family — his mother and sister are dead — no home and no job.

Barrios, whom Wagner describes as “a fantastic neighbor with the most polite children,” is one of those citizens who has been living in the U.S. without legal permission. A U.S. Immigrations judge ordered Barrios to leave the U.S. in 1998 after he failed to appear at a hearing on his asylum request.

Barrios said that’s because he moved and never got the notice.

He reappeared on immigration’s screens after being stopped for a broken taillight in 2011. Until February, he was always given another year’s reprieve.

Now Barrios, a devout Catholic who attends Sunday Mass, Wednesday Bible study and Friday prayer services at St. Louis Church in West Haven, can only hope God, pleas from Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all D-Conn., or a last-ditch effort by his lawyer, Erin O’Neil-Baker, keep him here.

On Monday, nearly 100 people demonstrated on Barrios’ behalf outside the Abraham Ribicoff federal building in Hartford, which houses the immigration service and courthouse, according to the Hartford Courant. Nineteen people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass after ignoring repeated Hartford police orders not to block the entrance, the Courant reported.

Although Barrios remains optimistic someone will intercede, he’s also realistic.

“I have my ticket,” he said, as Coco, his 8-year-old Shih Tzu stays by his side. It cost him $400 for the one-way trip to Guatemala, where nothing awaits.

“When you’re 50 years old it’s hard to get any work there,” said Claudia Garcia, his niece from Norwalk. “There’s no work there.”

“I’ll find something,” said a hopeful Barrios, who has been cleaning out septic systems for Pease Septic in Newtown. “I have to. I want my children to go to college. I want my family to keep this home.”

Meanwhile, Lester said he and his sister Jessica, who was taking final exams at UB, were prepared to get jobs. Their mother, Dora, is looking for more homes to clean. And the family is hoping to avoid the worst.

Without Luis’ income they fear losing their house on this quiet, carefully manicured street of single-family homes off Marshall Lane.

“It’s not an option,” said Lester. “We can ask family members for help, but they can only do so much. If we lose the house, I may have to move in with my godparents in Stratford so I can continue to go to Platt.”

Late Tuesday night, family members began showing up for what could be a last supper in the Barrios’ home.

“It’s sad,” said Garcia. “We just have to have faith in God.”

As Wagner leaves, she promises to pray for Barrios. She tells Dora “to come over” if she ever needs anything.

“This is wrong,” she said. “It’s a terrible shame.”