Family Wins Immigration Hearing : Faces Deportation After 8 Years in Escondido Community

An immigration appeals board has given an Escondido family facing deportation a victory in their attempts to stay in the United States--where they’ve lived for eight years--by ordering a new hearing for them.

Donovan Dunnion, the San Diego attorney for the Victor Gamez Lopez family, said he was contacted Tuesday by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia, which had been reviewing the case since October.

The board ordered a suspension-of-deportation hearing for the Gamez Lopezes. At the hearing, to be held in San Diego before an immigration judge, the family must prove that they would suffer an extreme hardship if deported to Mexico. If they are successful, the family would then be eligible for permanent residence status.

“To the extent that a very small percentage of people get this hearing, it’s a victory. But we still have an uphill battle,” Dunnion said. “This means the family will get their day in court. They are very happy. . . . there’s been so many positives signs and then negative ones. This is just another step for them.”

Publicity about the pending deportation of the family caught the attention of Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), whose office intervened. “This is a double win situation,” said Michele Patterson, a San Francisco-based immigration specialist on Wilson’s staff.

Patterson said the new hearing not only gives the Gamez Lopezes the opportunity to prepare a case against deportation but also buys them time during which some form of immigration reform may come out of Congress. Patterson said that, if such reform occurs, which she said is likely during this session, the Gamez Lopezes would qualify under the various amnesty provisions now being debated.

Victor Gamez Lopez immigrated to Escondido in 1973, where he worked as a farm laborer planting an avocado grove. The grove’s owner, Stout Avocado Co., liked his work so much that he was hired permanently and eventually worked his way up to foreman. Eight years ago, secure in his job, he brought his wife and their five children to live on the farm in a three-bedroom house, where they still reside.

Since then, the children have become Americanized and excelled in school. Victor and his wife, Felipe, became involved in various school and Catholic Church activities, and they attended night school to learn English. The family hasn’t visited Mexico in more than seven years.

The family was out for a drive about five years ago in Oceanside when they were stopped by police, though they hadn’t broken any laws. They were turned over to immigration officials, who identified them as illegal aliens and ordered them deported.

Numerous friends and associates have come to the family’s aid. Letters on their behalf have been written by the children’s elementary school principal, the family’s parish priest and owners of the avocado grove, who are paying the family’s legal bills.

Dunnion said he expects the new hearing to be held within the next several months. But Patterson said it could take several years, depending on the backlog of immigration cases.