(NEW YORK) — Stephanie Gonzalez says she and her family have endured “heartbreak” since the deportation of her parents, 55-year-old Gladys and 59-year-old Nelson Gonzalez.
“They really did not deserve to be treated as criminals,” Stephanie Gonzalez, 27, told ABC News on Wednesday, describing how she and her sisters, 23-year-old Gabriella and 33-year-old Jessica, have been “devastated” as their parents, who possess no criminal records and have lived in the United States for 35 years, have been transported like “animals” and placed in “inhumane” conditions.
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents were arrested and detained on Feb. 21 after a routine supervision appointment. That day, Gladys Gonzalez was initially granted a one-year extension to stay in America, prompting her daughter to think that “everything’s gonna be fine, like it always is.”
A few hours later, however, Nelson Gonzalez called to inform the family he was being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that Gladys’ extension was revoked and she was being detained as well.
“They separated them in separate rooms. They were in rooms alone for hours with no food,” Stephanie Gonzalez said. “They had handcuffed them from their hands or from their wrists and from their ankles.”
She added that it is jarring for her parents to be “treated like criminals,” especially since they had “never, ever been in trouble with the law.”
ICE confirmed to ABC News that Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez do not have criminal records and have been deported to Colombia.
It noted that its “routine operations” involve arresting people who commit crimes as well as “other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents were transported to detention facilities in different states without knowing where they were going and that she and her sisters had no way of tracking them, calling it “a mess.”
“It baffles my mind how they’re treating people this way,” she said, adding that it’s “so cruel” that they were “literally moving them around like animals.”
Stephanie Gonzalez also said her parents had no way of finding each other while in custody — they just happened to be on the same plane back to Colombia.
“When they got on the plane, everyone started clapping because they knew that they had been reunited after so long,” she said, smiling at this “really sweet moment” among the deportees. She added that she feels relieved they are now together in Colombia.
Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez came to America in 1989, seeking asylum from violence in Colombia, their daughter said.
They then faced multiple instances of “fraudulent” lawyers, she said, including one who wasn’t even an attorney and others who ended up disbarred, consequently preventing the proper citizenship paperwork from being filed. Stephanie Gonzalez described this as “so discouraging when you’re trying so hard … to do the right thing.”
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez “illegally entered the United States” in 1989. After they appeared before an immigration judge who found “no legal basis” for them to remain in the U.S., ICE said the couple was granted a “voluntary departure” with a final removal in 2000.
Stephanie Gonzalez confirmed that her parents were faced with a voluntary deportation day in 2000, but she added that they subsequently spent over 20 years filing appeals. Though her parents’ cases were closed in 2021, Stephanie Gonzalez said they were instructed simply to continue showing up to their supervision appointments and check in with the appropriate authorities.
During these supervision visits, Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez consistently got approved to stay in the U.S., though the time frame almost always varied, she continued.
“Sometimes, they would get three months. One time, they got one month. One time, I think they got almost three years where they didn’t have to appear before immigration,” Stephanie Gonzalez recounted.
“I think it just shows how broken the immigration system is because there was no set rule,” she said, adding that her family always hoped for a “really nice officer.”
Prior to the supervision visit in February that resulted in her parents’ deportation, Stephanie Gonzalez said she and her sisters “weren’t necessarily nervous” because they had been accustomed to “getting good news that they could stay in the country.”
“When I realized that they had gotten arrested and I wasn’t going to even be able to say goodbye, it was awful,” she said. “The fact that I couldn’t even hug them and just … feel their bodies — like it was really hard on me and my sisters.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents offered to self-deport and pay for their own flights to preserve their “dignity” but the government refused.
She said not only do Stephanie and her sisters now have to grieve their parents’ absence but they are also left to settle their parents’ affairs and belongings, causing the situation to feel “like somebody died.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said it has been difficult given how close-knit her family is, especially as she and her sister Gabriella lived with their parents in an apartment in Orange County, California. She also expressed sadness that her parents cannot spend time with Jessica’s 7-month-old son, their first grandchild.
Her mother was the baby’s primary caretaker, and Gabriella had to quit her job to watch after him once their mother was no longer able to, Stephanie Gonzalez added.
Nelson Gonzalez was a certified phlebotomist who drew blood and conducted life insurance exams, his daughter said. He was also a part-time Uber driver, even working overnight to make extra money, with Stephanie Gonzalez emphasizing what immigrants like her parents “contribute to society.”
She expressed a desire for the public to change the narrative around immigrants, emphasizing that her parents are “hardworking people. … They’ve paid taxes. They’ve raised us three to follow the law. … They love America.”
Stephanie Gonzalez and her sisters started a GoFundMe page, which has raised over $75,000.
She noted that she feels “devastated” to hear “so many parents being taken from their kids, families being separated and broken apart.”
“That is something that should break people’s hearts,” she said.
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