Dear Marcos Charles, Acting Director, Regional ICE Field Office for Enforcement and Removal Operations.

I am writing to request that in your discretion, you stay the current planned deportation of Sonia Gutiérrez.  Sonia has been instructed to leave the country on December 13. Sonia’s deportation would destabilize a hard-working, tax-paying family who have no legal issues other than trying to remain together in this country. 

Sonia is the mother of three small children (aged 14, 10, and 5) who are all U.S. citizens. Her children rely daily on her for their care. Without their mother, they would be devastated. Sonia’s husband of 14 years, leaves their family home each day in Bridgeport at 4:00 each morning and does not home until early evening.

Sonia is well known member of the community, having been a licensed home health aide and now an organizer with Make The Road CT. All who work with her describe as loving, caring, and dedicated. She has been consistently working – and paying taxes – since coming to the United States in 2002.

Sonia left Honduras in 2002 at the age of 19 to escape relatives who were violently abusing her; she cannot return to Honduras as she has no hope of safety there - one of the relatives was a police commander. 

Sonia’s deportation would punish a woman who is following the American Dream by building a life, caring for others, and speaking out for justice.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is supposed to be targeting immigration enforcement towards people who are causing serious problems in our country - this is not Sonia. ICE has the discretion to monitor immigrants without breaking up families.