CT Father Loses Fight And Is Deported, Family 'Left Broken'

NEW FAIRFIELD, CT — After more than half a year in "fight mode," Joel Colindrés, a New Fairfield husband and father of two young children, was deported to Guatemala on Wednesday. He was forced to leave after his stay of deportation was denied by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a few days prior, leaving his wife heartbroken and his kids missing their dad.

Colindrés was previously saved from deportation in August minutes before boarding a flight thanks to a Petition for Review filed by his lawyer. This time, he was forced to say goodbye and will endure a five-year bar from the United States.

"He's gone. No miracle," Colindrés' wife, Samantha, said in a Facebook post Wednesday. "We are all left broken and displaced."

See also: CT Father Given Second Deportation Date 3 Days After Christmas

• Because ICE Made A Typo, These Kids Will Lose Their Dad In Just Days

For those unfamiliar, Colindrés was told in July he had 28 days to leave his job, home and two young children and move back to Guatemala as the result of a paperwork mix-up.

Colindrés has lived in America since 2004 after coming in through Texas via a legal provisional waiver. He owns a home, paid taxes for every year he's been here (with a Taxpayer Identification Number) and is married with two children to an American citizen.

The family's attorney, Erin O'Neil Baker, previously told Patch that Colindrés has been following the necessary steps to become an American citizen, until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials spelled his name wrong on a document.

Due to the error, the attorney said, Colindrés never received an important letter — and missed a court date as a result. He was then issued a removal order in 2004, but continued to send necessary documents and check in regularly with ICE agents, as his waiver required, and was continuously working to be granted citizenship.

After receiving the good news he would not be leaving immediately at the airport in August, Colindrés continued to work toward being granted a Stay of Deportation so he could finish the process of becoming a citizen.

Then, just three days after Christmas, ICE intervened once again and told him he had to leave Jan. 31.

“Honestly, I thought Joel was kidding when he first told me the news. It just didn’t seem real," Samantha Colindrés said in an interview with Patch earlier this month. “Even our lawyer said she doesn’t think she’s ever seen this happen in the case of anybody going to the airport, getting saved forty minutes before their flight, and then ICE picking on them again with another deportation date when there is really no need for it.”

While the couple was working with their lawyer and state officials to let Colindrés stay with his family and finish the process, those dreams came crumbling down this week when they received a letter informing them his stay had been denied.

"ICE denied Joel's stay this morning, Samantha Colindrés said Tuesday on Facebook. "Devastation, anger and frustration don't even begin to explain how we feel. To see others get stays with less in their case infuriates me. There's nothing left, the fight is over...now we are faced to plan for the next five years and what our future holds."

One the day of his deportation, the couple posted pictures to the Save Joel Colindrés Facebook page of them saying goodbye to each other at the airport, as well as a video of their young son hiding in a blanket and crying at the thought if his father leaving.

"These are the faces of deportation," Samantha Colindrés said in the post. "This is the turmoil this administration has caused. I hope they all sleep better tonight knowing Joel has been ripped away from his family. I hope they finally feel safer with him gone."

Photo credit: Samantha Colindrés