HOUSTON—There is a lot to be smiling about in the Escobar household. The man of the house is finally home.
Jose Escobar was on the verge of deportation and was held in an ICE detention facility in Conroe for seven months.
“It’s hard spending all that time in there. Especially when I’ve never been in jail before, never, so it was hard for me,” Jose Escobar said.
Jose was working in Houston on a temporary protected status. He has no criminal record, works and pays his taxes. He said bad legal advice led him to not show up for a court-mandated hearing.
After that, an order was given to deport him back to El Salvador.
His wife, along with the help of advocacy groups and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, fought for his release for months. And their persistence paid off. Jose was granted a deferred action—a temporary status to keep him in the U.S.
“We were waiting for a miracle, this is it. It happened,” Rose Escobar, Jose’s wife said.
While playing with his son, Walter, Escobar recalled what he was thankful for.
”It’s great to have these moments, playing with your son again,” he said.
That was something he wasn’t sure he would be able to do. Escobar knows there are those who will say he should be sent back because he was in the country illegally.
“Whenever they say Hispanic or immigrant, you have the picture of a criminal, but it’s not always like that,” he added.
“Unfortunately there’s no other way, there’s no back of the line, there’s no other way to come here legally...it’s a very long waiting period. And a lot of these people who are living in poverty don’t have time to wait,” said Abraham Espinosa, an immigrant rights activist who works with FIEL Houston.
For now, Jose is trying to get back to the life he left behind for seven months.
