Father deported to Guatemala after attending routine immigration hearing

By CNN Newsource

Published June 12, 2025 12:54 PM

By Chantelle Navarro

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — A Guatemalan man who has been in Oklahoma City for 14 years is now separated from his wife and baby after showing up to a routine immigration hearing.

Oklahomans plan ‘No Kings Day’ protest as part of nationwide movement Cesar Reyes said he still wakes up some days and can’t believe what happened. He showed up with his 3-year-old to what he thought was a regular check-in at immigration court only to be served with deportation papers.

“I feel like a piece of me is missing,” Reyes, who was deported to Guatemala, said.

Reyes spoke to KOCO 5 via Zoom. He is now more than 1,500 miles away from his wife and 3-year-old son, a distance that feels more like 15,000 miles since he was deported in February.

“I was living a normal life. I was providing for my family, paying taxes and now that I’m separated, I just feel incomplete,” Reyes said.

Reyes said he had an immigration attorney and was pursuing a resolution to a legal case, which he said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement OK’d him to continue doing as long as he showed up every three months for check-ins.

Reyes showed KOCO 5 paperwork that backed up his claims.

“I was with my 3-year-old, who was born here in the U.S., and they basically told me they were going to detain me,” Reyes said.

The local ICE office did not immediately return KOCO’s request for comment.

Melissa Lujan, an immigration attorney with Lujan Law, said this is a situation that is all too familiar. She said she has seen a lot more people get expedited deportations or deported on loopholes, like pending applications or temporary work visas, which don’t guarantee permanent stays.

“Instead of being out on the streets looking for, you know, an undocumented person who’s been here for 10 years that may have some serious criminal record, that’s hard to find. So, instead, it’s easier to stand outside court and just arrest people who are there to try to get asylum and are showing up to court as they should,” Lujan said.

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