Lilian Calderon spent her first night with her family in Rhode Island after being detained for nearly a month by federal immigration authorities in Massachusetts.
Calderon was released Tuesday, after a judge ruled she could not be deported.
The 30-year-old Calderon is a Guatemalan native, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has two American children. She first came to this country at age three.
Calderon was detained after what was supposed to be a routine check-in with immigration officials to confirm the status of her marriage to Luis Gordillo, a U.S. citizen. After her interview she was told she was going to be transported from an immigration building in Johnston to a different facility.
“You just approved my marriage, what do you mean I have to go with you?” Calderon recalled asking immigration officers.
She told her story Wednesday to reporters, accompanied by her husband and lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I asked them if I could speak with Luis, and they said no we’re going to inform him of what’s happening,” Calderon said. “I just wanted to speak to him and say good-bye to him, because they didn’t even give me a chance to say bye to him.”
Calderon recalled the shock of being detained and the confusion when she asked corrections officers when she would be released.
“It wasn’t easy because none of them know what’s going on,” said Calderon. “None of the officers at the Suffolk House of Corrections, none of them have answers for immigration. All they know is that we’re detained and they can’t help us and they don’t have any answers to any of our questions.”
Calderon said she was trying to comply with federal policy by appearing before immigration officers in the first place.
“It’s a system that tells you, ‘do this.’ And you do it because that’s what you’re told, but they don’t tell you that it isn’t going to be a good outcome for you,” said Calderon. “No one tells you that the system is eventually going to have cracks, and if you fall into one of those cracks, you’re going to fall into a detention center.”
Calderon’s case sparked an outcry by some Rhode Islanders, and prompted calls for her release from elected officials.
With help from her attorney, Calderon has been trying to obtain a green card. A federal judge has scheduled the next hearing in her immigration case for February 21st.
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