Honduran man knocks on doors in Saginaw Township asking residents to help him get deported (The Saginaw News)

Honduran man knocks on doors in Saginaw Township asking residents to help him get deported
By Gus Burns | The Saginaw News
February 05, 2010, 10:00AM

Juan R. Alvarado may receive a free trip to Central America courtesy of the United States.
Alvarado, 32, left Honduras in his 20s to make a better life for himself and his parents by sending home his earnings, Saginaw County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Gomez said. He said Alvarado, with his elderly parents ill and thousands of miles away, hoped the police could help him return to them.
Police detained Alvarado on Monday after a resident reported a non-English-speaking Hispanic male was knocking on doors at Waterside Apartments, 4070 Green Isle Way, north of McCarty and east of Barnard in Saginaw Township. Gomez said Alvarado, who lived in Saginaw Township, was trying to find someone who could help him call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so that he would be deported.
“I didn’t want money, I want someone to help me get to Honduras,” Gomez said Alvarado told him in Spanish.
When police asked Alvarado for identification, he showed them an expired card issued in Honduras in 1997, said Saginaw Township Police Lt. Gary P. Grauf.
“He was hoping the Saginaw Township police would have him deported,” said Gomez, who served as Alvarado’s translator. “He hasn’t been able to find work in a long time.”
Alvarado was lodged in the Saginaw County Jail on immigration violation charges until Tuesday, Gomez said. That’s when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from Detroit picked him up, Grauf said.
“We’re not a travel agency,” said Khaalid Walls, a customs spokesman. “He’ll begin removal proceedings, and if a judge decides he is here illegally, we’ll enforce his removal.”
Walls said Alvarado could be jailed for months awaiting a determination.
“He’s going to sit in their jail for weeks,” said Gomez, basing his estimate on previous dealings with the agency. “There’s no guarantee he’ll get back to Honduras anytime soon.”
Gomez said the agency generally waits until it has detained enough illegal immigrants to deport at the same time to increase cost efficiency. Based on past experience, Gomez said the agency usually doesn’t pick up illegal immigrants unless they’ve done something wrong or broken laws unrelated to immigration.
Alvarado made his way north, crossed the southern U.S. border and headed for the Great Plains states, Gomez said.
“He was originally living in Colorado, working as a laborer, just taking what jobs he could find,” Gomez said. “He met a woman named Maria, who is originally from Mexico, and she convinced him to come to Saginaw, and he’s been here for two years.”
Gomez didn’t know the status of Alvarado’s relationship with the woman.
“There was nothing to keep him here, because he couldn’t find a job or make any money to send home to his family,” Gomez said. “He was just hoping they would let him take his things with him when he’s deported.”
There were 11.6 million estimated illegal immigrants in the U.S. as of February 2008, the most recent data available through the U.S. Department of Immigration Statistics. Michigan had about 70,000 illegal immigrants at last count a decade ago.