An undocumented construction worker, he is the sole breadwinner for his family of seven (which is about to grow to eight with the birth of he and his wife's next child).
And he's apparently about to be deported.
On Tuesday morning, when he is slated to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Tampa field office, activists with Tampa Democratic Socialists of America and other organizations are planning on forming a human barrier between Blanco and authorities tasked with forcing him to return to Mexico.
Several years ago, Blanco was pulled over for driving with tinted windows and detained. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was notified, WTSP's Shannon Valladolid reported earlier this month, but he was not detained. He hired an immigration lawyer, who was able to get him a humanitarian visa given that he was the sole earner in his large family.
His wife reportedly is currently able to stay in the U.S. because of DACA.
Blanco's humanitarian visa requires periodic renewal, which was granted under the Obama administration, but not under Trump.
So he's slated to leave later this month. He was already been sent back once in 1998, Valladolid notes, but he came back to the U.S. because there were no job opportunities by which he could support his family.
Activists are planning to show up to the ICE field office at 5534 W. Cypress St. in Tampa at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to "demand that not one more family be torn apart and destroyed by nonsensical, racist, inhumane policies," according to a Facebook page created for the event.
Blanco's ordeal follows a case earlier this month in which a Michigan man brought to the U.S. 30 years ago, at age ten, was deported to Mexico despite being married to an American and having been brought to the country as a minor.
This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 1, 2018.