It’s been two years, two Mother’s Days and just too long for the family of Juana Flores.
Flores’ 18 grandchildren miss her.
About 75 people gathered Saturday afternoon outside Santa Barbara City Hall to show their support for Flores and efforts to return her to the Goleta home where she had lived.
Flores entered the United States from Mexico without a visa in 1988, two years after President Ronald Reagan signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act granting status to illegal immigrants. Between 1988 and 2019, she married and settled down in California, where she and her husband, Andres — a permanent resident since 2009 and a U.S. citizen since 2015 — bought a home and raised a family.
In 1999, Flores, 57, traveled to Mexico to visit her sick mother and attend her funeral. When she returned to the United States, she was stopped by Customs and Border Protection. Although she received several extensions to be allowed to stay in the U.S., on humanitarian grounds, those ended on Feb. 26, 2019. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office ordered Flores back to Mexico, and she voluntarily left the country.
Flores has lived most of her life in the United States and has no family in Mexico. Now, a contingent of attorneys and community activists has organized to bring Flores back home.
“It’s been two years, and those two years have been super long,” daughter Cristina Flores said. “We still cannot believe that this is still happening.”
By law, Juana Flores has to wait eight more years, for a total of 10, before she can ask to come back into the United States.
“We cannot wait that long,” Cristina Flores said. “We cannot wait. We have to fight. We have to stand up and raise our voices.”
The event was moderated by Paula Lopez, a journalist and Realtor. Several elected officials attended, including Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo, Santa Barbara Councilwoman Meagan Harmon, Santa Barbara Councilman Oscar Gutierrez, and Goleta City Councilmen James Kyriaco, Stuart Kasdin and Kyle Richards. Santa Barbara County First District Supervisor Das Williams, as did Santa Barbara Unified School District board member Rose Munoz. All of them spoke in support of bringing Flores home.
Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, has proposed the Protect Patriot Parents Act, which would prevent the parents of children serving in the U.S. Armed Forces from deportation. Flores’ son, Cesar Flores, joined the U.S. Air Force in 2016 and recently recommitted to another four years in the service.
“People forget that we are a country of immigrants,” Carbajal said. “With the exception of Native Americans and African-Americans who were brought to this country against their will, others came to this country seeking that American Dream.”
Carbajal said Andres and Juana Flores’ story is no different than any other American couple.
“What makes this even more tragic is that this is just one example of so many others who are in a similar situation,” Carbajal said.
He said his bill would specifically assist parents of servicemembers who are in the same circumstance as the Flores family.
“It reminds our nation that immigrants of this country, in particular those who volunteer to serve in our United States military to protect our freedoms, our Constitution and our democracy, shouldn’t have to have the added stress for those who have parents who are undocumented, to be fearful that their parents are going to be deported, as Juana Flores was. What a contradiction and a hypocrisy.”
Councilwoman Harmon brought her daughter, Maura, to the stage with her to speak.
“I want to speak to you today as a mother,” Harmon said, fighting back tears. “I think all mothers know what I mean when I say that Mrs. Flores represents the best of who we are.”
Harmon said Flores is devoted and committed to her family.
“These are things that define Mrs. Flores and her motherhood journey, and I know those are the things I want to emulate in my own journey as a mom,” Harmon said.
Among the legal team working to bring Flores back are attorney Kraig Rice and former Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa.
“We are asking for a grant of leniency, a grant of mercy, to allow this Goleta grandmother to return to her family home, and to allow the piecing back together of a woefully broken family and a needlessly injured community,” Ochoa said. “We ask, bring Juana home, not tomorrow, nor the next day, bring Juana Flores home, now.”
Goleta was the first city to pass a resolution in support of bringing Flores home.
Councilman Kyriaco said there’s a husband who has missed his wife and grandchildren who have been missing a caregiver.
“For two years, there’s been an empty chair at the dinner table because for two years an injustice has been allowed to stand,” Kyriaco said. “There are those who say she was sent home, but I say she was already home because she was a resident of Goleta. And there are those who say immigrants are a threat to our culture. But people in Goleta and our whole community know that immigrants are our culture.”
Andrea Gomez, one of Flores’ grandaughters, spoke passionately in support of her grandmother.
“Today, I am here to let you all know that we will overcome this blatant oppression,” Gomez said.
She said families are not made to be taken away from each other.
“I just will never be able to undersand or comprehend how obliviously inhumane and inconsiderate the system was with my grandma,” Gomez said. “As much as it breaks my heart to say this, I know that it was simply straight racism and discriminating ignorance as to why my grandmother wasn’t allowed to stay.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.