ICE Agents Detain Undocumented Father While Dropping off Kids

While on a routine trip with his wife to drop off his children at school, undocumented father Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents in northern Los Angeles on Tuesday.

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Avelica-Gonzalez was leaving his child's school campus and was on his way to drop off his other daughter when an unmarked vehicle, which had been following the family car, pulled him over and arrested him.

“My dad was really scared. He didn't want to pull over, but he did. As soon as he did, one car went in front of his truck and one in back of his truck. They took him out and they arrested him. My little sister was still in the car, she's 13. My mom was also there,” his 19-year-old daughter Jocelyn Avelica, told LAist.

As she was crying, Avelica-Gonzalez's 13-year-old daughter filmed the incident from their family car, which was then uploaded to YouTube.

Avelica-Gonzalez, originally from the town of Nayarit in Western Mexico, is a 48-year-old father of four U.S.-born children. He works in a Mexican restaurant and has been living in the U.S. undocumented for more than 20 years.

According to Emi MacLean, a National Day Laborer Organizing Network attorney, Avelica-Gonzalez has two convictions – one for driving under the influence, which stretches back almost a decade, and an older conviction for buying a vehicle he did not realize had an incorrect registration.

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“Basically what ICE has told officials is that this man has prior convictions, as a way of essentially throwing him under the bus,” MacLean told LAist.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Immigrant Youth Coalition urged people to contact the Los Angeles ICE field office and pressure them so they would not deport Avelica-Gonzalez. Later on Tuesday evening, the advocacy group announced via Facebook that “because of community pressure, all the phone calls, the rally and petitions work, Romulo who was set to be deported today was granted a stay of removal for now.”