KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A local man continued his fight against deportation just days after President Barack Obama renewed his calls for immigration reform.
Josue Sandoval is a father of two who’s been living peacefully but illegally in Kansas City for almost 16 years. Josue faced a deportation decision Friday. His request for a stay was denied, but his attorney has appealed that decision.
Josue’s future in the states is still unclear as of Friday evening.
While the legal proceedings were ongoing, his wife, two kids, friends and community members held a rally in Washington Square Park, facing Immigration Park, sending a message to a system they call broken.
Others say the law is the law.
Communities Creating Opportunity, the group who’s been helping Josue’s family, says he is a family man with no criminal history and he’s dutifully paid his taxes since he arrived on American soil in 1998.
Josue was taken in by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) after an investigation at his place of employment. With Josue detained for the past two weeks, his 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter spoke emotionally at Friday afternoon’s rally.
“My dad is a hardworking man. He came to this country to make a better life for me, my sister and our family. All I want is everything to be normal again and all families to be together including mine,” said Josue’s daughter, Nayelli, who was born in the United States.
“I just want my dad to be here with me. Because it’s not the same no more. It’s like everything starts to be different,” said Josue’s son, Erik, who was brought to the U.S. by his parents when he was just one-year-old.
Friday’s rally was also a call for immigration reform
“Right now under current immigration law there is no place for him. The path to citizenship is confusing, the immigration system is broken,” said Andrew Kling with Communities Creating Opportunity.
But others, like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, say the law is the law and shouldn’t differ from person-to-person when talking about undocumented people in the U.S.
