KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — A Pittsburg, Kansas family is fighting to get their mom home after they say Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers took her away.
Carina Moran said her mother walked in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Field Office (USCIS) in Kansas City for an appointment and was instead detained by ICE officers.
“It feels like she’s been stripped away from me, and I feel like I’m never going to see her again,” Moran said. “I’ve been with my mom my entire life. I don’t know what it’s like to not have her. [I] have to tell my younger brothers that they’re not going to get to see their mom. It makes me feel awful to see my dad struggling the way he is.”
Moran said her dad, Nixon, became a U.S. citizen in March.
That’s also when he filed a form repetitioning for his wife, Rosmery Alvarado, to potentially get a green card.
“He got a notification three weeks later saying, ‘Hey you’ve gotten approved. We want you to come down for an interview.” She says they also received a letter last week that said, “You are notified to appear before a USCIS officer regarding the application.”
Moran said, on Wednesday, her mom, dad and lawyer walked into the USCIS office for the appointment.
About an hour later, Moran’s dad walked out the front door without her.
“The last time that I saw her, I was walking her up to that building thinking they were going into a routine interview, but from the moment we got that letter they were being lied to,” Moran said. “She really holds our household together and to not see her here and to not hear her voice really hurt.”
Moran’s father said that during the appointment, officers said the paperwork looked good, then separated her Nixon and Alvarado — and that’s when ICE officers took Alvarado away.
“As soon as he stepped out, ICE came in through the back part of the office and two officers detained my mom, didn’t say anything to her,” Moran said. “They took her out the back, put her in a white van that was untagged, and they just drove off with her.”
Moran said Alvarado is now being held at a detention center in Chase County, about two hours away.
Their lawyer told Moran that Alvarado had a deportation order. She said it stems from failing to appear in court when Alvarado was a minor.
“We thought we had all of our defenses, we had the evidence, we had everything we were prepared, everyone in my family is a citizen,” Moran said. “I thought that would protect her.”
FOX4 reached out to ICE and USCIS. ICE acknowledged our request, but said they needed more personal information about Alvarado before they could comment.
Moran said their attorney filled a deportation stop, they’re waiting to see if it gets approved and her mom can come home.
If it’s denied, she said her mom will be sent to Guatemala three days after the denial.
Moran said her mom has diabetes. She created a GoFundMe for Rosmery Alvarado, intended to help cover medical expenses, legal assistance and “internationally mail [Alvarado’s] belongings” if necessary.
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