Reprieve: Illegal resident to spend holidays with family (Times of Trenton)

Reprieve: Illegal resident to spend holidays with family
Friday, December 03, 2010
By Carmen Cusido
STAFF WRITER

EWING -- After facing separation from his family prior to Christmas, Guatemalan-born Ramon Gonzalez-Solares, an illegal resident of the United States who has been ordered to leave the country, will celebrate the holiday with his family after all.

He had previously been ordered to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials yesterday to be incarcerated until his flight out of the country. His attorney said yesterday the decision by ICE to grant him extra time with his family over the holidays was a surprise.

"I really didn't expect it," said Stephen Traylor of Princeton Borough, Gonzalez-Solares' attorney.

Gonzalez-Solares, 45, of Ewing, will instead be asked to report to the ICE office in Marlton on Jan. 14, and will be detained until he is sent back to Guatemala,

Gonzalez-Solares has lived in this country for 25 years, raised two U.S.-born children and established himself as a cook in a Princeton-area restaurant.

He was taken into custody by immigration officials in July. He was given a rare 90-day reprieve in August, after originally being scheduled to be deported to Guatemala then. In August, his deportation was again delayed.

This week, Traylor submitted a psychological report to ICE explaining that Gonzalez-Solares' domestic partner and two sons -- ages 18 and 13 -- were not doing well as a result of his pending deportation. The older son's grades have been slipping to the point that the high school senior may not graduate this year, Traylor said.

In an e-mail message sent to The Times, ICE spokesman Harold Ort said, "Mr. Gonzalez requested an extension of the stay of removal through his attorney in order to spend the holidays with his family. ICE granted this request. ICE plans to enforce Mr. Gonzalez's removal order."

Gonzalez-Solares could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he said after reporting to the Marlton office in November that he would leave if there was no other option for him to stay in this country.

Maria Juega, co-founder of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has advocated on Gonzalez-Solares' behalf, said her organization will submit a petition with more than 100 hundred signatures to ICE.

Juega said LALDEF also will "continue to advocate for his indefinite release and deferred action on his deportation. His case is one of so many other senseless stories of families traumatized and torn apart for no good reason. This time, common sense and compassion prevailed but the immigration authorities should simply not pursue these cases," Juega said.

Traylor said he was grateful to ICE for their consideration. In the next week or so, Traylor will take additional legal measures in hopes of preventing Gonzalez-Solares' deportation.

Once an illegal immigrant reports to ICE, the average stay in detention before being sent to their home country is 32 days, Ort said.