Immigrant Advocates Rally Around Deported MoCo Brothers

Steve Burns
WMAL.com

HYATTSVILLE – (WMAL) CASA, the well-known immigration advocacy group, is rallying around two brothers from Montgomery County who were deported Wednesday following a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

19-year-old Lizandro Claros-Saravia and his brother, 22-year-old Diego, were sent back to El Salvador Wednesday. They had come to the United States as children, fleeing violence in their home country. Lizandro had since become a well-known soccer player at the Bethesda Soccer Club, and was set to head to college on a scholarship.

“(President Trump) is separating our families,” CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres said at a rally Wednesday. “You are lying to the American epople that you are focusing on criminals.”

Diego, the older brother, graduated high school and works in a car repair shop, CASA officials said. The group’s attorney said neither brother had a criminal record.

Another brother, Jonathan, said they were here to live out their dreams.

“I know this country is about rules,” he said. “But in my opinion, some of them are unfair for people like my brothers.”

Lizandro’s soccer coach, Matt Ney, painted the two as disciplined hard workers.

“These are boys that strove to make their lives better,” he said. “And they succeeded.”

ICE, in a statement, said it is focusing on criminals, but “ICE does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”

ICE said the two first came on its radar after they were caught at New York’s Kennedy Airport in 2009 attempting to use fraudulent Guatemalan passports under a false identity. They had been instructed to leave the country in 2016, following the granting of a stay of removal in 2013. Two subsequent applications for stays were denied.