There is a lot of talk about immigration reform right now, and it will only get more intense as the 844-page Senate bill enters debate next week, as well as similar legislation scheduled to be introduced and debated in the House of Representatives.
But the reality is that undocumented immigrants are being deported each and every day in the U.S., and in Ybor City Wednesday evening, one such man — Lakeland resident Jesus Guevara — described his situation. He said unless something miraculous happens within the next few days, he will be separated from his wife and four children and be deported within the next week.
"I don't want to be separated from my children," Guevara said in Spanish, with his speech translated into English by another activist at the event, held in the rain under a roof in Ybor City's Centennial Park. "I'm the head of the household, I provide for them, they depend on me for their livelihood, I don't know what will happen to my family if I get taken away."
This article appears in May 2-8, 2013.