CLEVELAND (WSVN) — A father of four was forced to say goodbye to his family in Ohio Tuesday morning before he was deported back to Mexico.
Jesus Lara Lopez learned he had to leave the country after an immigration hearing on Monday, WEWS reported.
Lopez’s attorney David Leopold said his client had a valid work permit for his job at Pepperidge Farm. But when he checked in with immigration officials back in March, he was told he was facing deportation under an illegal immigration crackdown.
“The new rules are for the most part, every person who violated immigration law at some point in the past is a priority,” immigration attorney Brian DiFranco told WEWS.
Leopold called the laws “broken,” and said Lopez has no criminal record, has never used food stamps, and has always paid his taxes.
“The irony here is this is exactly the kind of immigrant we want in this country,” Leopold told reporters. “When the resources, the limited resources of law enforcement, are targeting a man like Jesus Lara, that’s less resources we have to go after a gang member or a national security threat.”
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