Cindy Garcia, Heartbroken Wife Of Man Deported By Trump, Attends State Of The Union
January 31, 2018
Cindy Garcia, Heartbroken Wife Of Man Deported By Trump, Attends State Of The Union
With Trump cracking down on illegal immigrants, Cindy Garcia — the wife of a man kicked out of the country — was at his SOTU to show the impact of his policies.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-MI, had a special guest with her for President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address: Cindy Garcia, the wife of Jorge Garcia. The Garcia family was torn apart when Jorge, 39, was deported back to Mexico on Jan. 15, and Rep. Dingell, 64, wanted to make sure Donald could see the face of someone affected by America’s immigration policy. Just like many other female senators, both Cindy and Debbie wore black the evening, showing their silent protest of the systemic culture of sexual harassment in America (especially its capitol.)
While Debbie and Cindy’s protest was silent, they voiced their rage over the treatment of Jorge before the SOTU. “America watched in horror as Jorge Garcia, a father of two and husband to an American citizen, who was brought to this country at 10 years old and has never received so much as a traffic ticket, was torn from his family and the only home he knows,” Rep. Dingell said when announcing Cindy as her guest. The video of Jorge saying good-bye to his weeping wife and 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son went viral, as two U.S. immigration agents watched from nearby.
Jorge’s case is evidence that immigrants living in the country desperately need a pathway to citizenship. While Trump and his administration’s anti-immigrant attitudes paints all undocumented people as “bad hombres,” “rapists” and “murderers,” Jorge was none of those. He had been trying to become a U.S. citizen for years, and his family spent up to $125,000 in legal costs since 2005. He had been facing an order of removal from immigration courts since 2009, according to the Detroit Free Press, but had been given stays of removal under the administration of President Barack Obama, 56.
However, the Obama administration was known for deporting unauthorized immigrants. In 2012, 4009,849 people were forced to leave the country. In the fiscal year, 2017, ICE removed 226,119 unauthorized immigrants, which was 6% fewer than the prior year, per The New York Times. Yet, unauthorized immigrant arrests have risen under the Trump administration. In the fiscal year 2017, ICE conducted 143,470 immigration-related arrests, 30% more than 2016.
Joining @cheddar with my guest Cindy Garcia live before #SOTU https://t.co/JuZrQsfeo2 pic.twitter.com/JLU8uqH9YQ
— Rep. Debbie Dingell (@RepDebDingell) January 30, 2018
Donald Trump ended the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program, which would protect “Dreamers” – or children brought to the US, like Jorge. He was too old to qualify for the old DACA deal, and hoped new legislation might give him a chance to stay. “I hope that when they see me they can connect and feel what we’re dealing with,” Cindy told the Washington Post, “that they have some type of compassion, if not for me than for the children who were separated from their dad.”
What do you think about Cindy attending the SOTU, HollywoodLifers?