Gaston Cazares is a father of two teenagers and is facing deportation after living in the United States since he was 16-years-old. The San Diego father has an autistic son, Ivan, who is already having nightmares thanks to this issue.
Cazares can’t imagine the thought of leaving his wife of 23 years and two children behind if they send him back to Mexico. They are all American citizens, but this dilemma started in 2011 when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the restaurant where Gaston worked.
ICE gave Cazares a “stay of removal” due to his son’s special needs, and they’ve extended it one year every year since then. Since Donald Trump’s presidency began, anyone subject to removal under the law is getting deported regardless of their situation or lack of criminal record.
Despite Gaston’s clean record, other than his immigration offenses, he may have to leave his family for a while and try to get back one way or another. Under the Trump administration, the fact that he’s the head of the household and has an autistic son is no longer relevant.
“I tried to explain to him. I’m not sure that he understands everything. The only thing he knows is they want to take me far from here.” – Gaston Cazares
Ivan relies on his father for everything from shopping to shaving his beard. “My dad – he’s important to me. He protects me, and I protect him,” Ivan told KSWB. The San Diego family will know if Gaston can stay in the country on Thursday, the day of his appointment with ICE.
“I want to ask him [Ivan], ‘What are you going to do if I’m not here. But I think it’s a very tough question,” Gaston said. Friends of the Cazares family started an online petition to keep Gaston in the United States, and Ivan’s teachers have written letters to ICE telling them Gaston’s autistic son would be affected if his father gets deported.
Gaston’s teenage daughter, Yahaira, a senior at Scripps Ranch High School, also worries that her father will get taken away from his family. She says there’s no time to be a typical teenager right now and that she’s never taken her parents for granted.
“I’ve never had the issue of complaining about my parents. I can’t take them for granted.” – Yahaira Cazares
Yahaira witnessed when ICE arrested her father in 2011. She remembers not knowing where they took him, or when he would return home. “He was taken and we didn’t know where or for how long… and about a day or two later, we got a call,” Yahaira said.
Things changed radically and unexpectedly for the Cazares family that day in 2011, but this Thursday will be the biggest moment for Gaston, his wife, Ivan, and Yahaira. “Everything changed. Everything changed from night to day,” Gaston said.