Deported Citizen Deserves an Apology

Re “Apology Sought for Latino ‘Repatriation’ Drive in ‘30s,” July 15: My father, Placido Ortiz, was twice victimized by our government. He was born in Butte, Mont., in 1925, a Depression-era child, like Emilia Castaneda, and the son of Mexican immigrant parents. His family was pressured to return to Mexico, and like Castaneda, he grew up in the Mexican state of Durango. In 1949 he married my mother and returned with her to California, where they had three children.

In 1955, after visiting Mexico, he presented his birth certificate to Immigration and Naturalization Service border officials and was questioned regarding his limited ability to speak English. My father explained the exodus of the Depression years and, upon continued questioning, explained that he had gone to school in Durango and worked as an elementary public school teacher. For the latter, he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship and deported to Mexico.

My mother was left behind in California with three children, ages 1, 3 and 5. She was on her own for one whole year until she was able to sponsor my father’s reentry into the U.S. as an alien immigrant. Although Dad sent us letters and photos, when he returned, he seemed like a stranger to his young children.

My father is now a naturalized U.S. citizen, and his certificate states Mexico as his former country of citizenship. This injustice has bothered me all my life. I think that my father and his family deserve an apology. He is now almost 78 years old. I think our government, which proclaims “justice for all,” should reinstate his citizenship by right of birth and not naturalization.

Rosaura Ortiz Casas

Alhambra