Remember that when Donald Trump tells you he is keeping America safe by sweeping up only “bad hombres” for deportation, he’s lying to you. In fact, the only “bad hombres” we’ve seen of late are the unshackled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have been targeting hardworking, taxpaying undocumented immigrants like Francisco Acosta, a Wesleyan University janitor:
When Acosta left Colombia, and his wife and teenage sons, in 2001, he hoped he’d be able to bring them to the United States soon.
After three days of driving from Colombia, Acosta crossed the border into El Paso, Texas, and immediately applied for political asylum from the brutal violence he had left behind.
Acosta was denied asylum and hasn’t seen his wife and sons since. During his appeal of the asylum case, he came to Connecticut because other members of his family live here, and he now works as a janitor at Wesleyan University in Middletown.
On Monday, he will face a deportation order that will send him back to a country where he says he was threatened with death for teaching and supporting unions.
While Acosta had worked with an attorney for seven years to petition for asylum, only to have it rejected. Still, he had been allowed to stay in the U.S. and work legally under the Bush and Obama administrations, so long as he continued checking in regularly with ICE. But when he went to his check-in under the Trump administration, he was ordered to buy a one-way plane ticket and prepare to leave his home and life.
In a rally earlier this month, the Wesleyan community rallied around the beloved janitor, who was a teacher himself in his home country. Acosta had planned to take English classes here in order to return to teaching, but instead has sent the money he’s earned as a janitor to his wife and kids, who are still back in Colombia. He hasn’t seen them since he left:
“I have paid all my taxes since I arrived here; I have a clean record,” said Acosta through the translation of Wesleyan student Belen Rodriguez. “I do not understand why my petition for asylum failed, and why I face this new trouble. I thank all those who have come forward to my defense over the past few weeks.”
“Francisco, along with the many other custodial workers on our campus, is a part of the Wesleyan community, just as much as we are, and he plays an essential role in helping students succeed,” said Rodriguez and fellow Wesleyan junior Emma Llano. “We, Wesleyan students, will continue to fight with and for Francisco and his right to stay in this country.”
“What burns me is that our President likes some immigrants—he married two of them—but he wants to deport Haitians, he wants to deport Latinos. A party has been hijacked by hate, by bigotry, by xenophobia,” said State Rep. Ed Vargas, of Hartford. “While we have a democracy, we have to constantly fight to maintain it. That’s why we need to be here.”
Acosta now faces a deportation date of January 15, when he could be torn from his family and ailing mother, of whom he’s a primary caretaker. According to the Hartford Courant, Acosta has several U.S. citizen family members, but as an undocumented immigrant, gaining legal status is incredibly difficult. Even if it’s attainable, the process can take years. With only a month left until he’s possible deported, Acosta doesn’t have that kind of time.