KAILUA-KONA — A Kona coffee farmer who entered the United States without documentation close to 30 years ago must leave the country at his own expense in 30 days if efforts to let him stay fail. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — A
KAILUA-KONA — A Kona coffee farmer who entered the United States without documentation close to 30 years ago must leave the country at his own expense in 30 days if efforts to let him stay fail.
Andres Magana Ortiz, 43, had previously been told to appear at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Thursday in Honolulu in preparation for deportation to Mexico, where Magana is a citizen and national.
His lawyer, James Stanton, told the Associated Press that his client agreed to leave voluntarily.
“He’s agreed to leave voluntarily at his own expense,” Stanton said. “They understand that we’re working on other channels to get a stay and they’ll respect that if we get it. If (we) are unable to get it, he understands that he’ll go back to Mexico.”
In an interview earlier this week, Stanton told West Hawaii Today that Magana has been “trying for years to get his situation straightened out.”
Shortly after Magana married his wife in 2016, Stanton said, the wife filed a petition for an alien relative, which would have given Magana a chance to return to Mexico and apply for a visa to let him return to the United States.
In August, Magana’s oldest daughter will be 21, according to the attorney, and will also be eligible to file a petition on her father’s behalf.
But 14 months after Magana’s wife filed her petition, Stanton said, they still haven’t received any response. That’s out of the norm, he said, given that the process typically takes closer to five months.
On Thursday, Magana was set to turn himself in at Honolulu’s INS office for deportation.
The Associated Press reported that morning that the man was told he had to leave voluntarily at his own expense in 30 days.
In their report, Magana was quoted saying he has “a little bit of relief.”
Hawaii lawmakers applauded news of the reprieve.
Sen. Mazie K. Hirono called the announcement “a positive step,” while recommitting to efforts that would put Magana on a path toward legal documentation.
“I call on the Department of Homeland Security to process the Magana Ortiz family’s application to bring Andres out of the shadows as quickly as possible to keep Andres together with his wife and kids,” she said in a statement. “Andres’ ordeal speaks to the very real fear and anxiety spreading through immigrant communities across the country.”
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, while calling the announcement a “positive step,” went on to say, “it does not resolve the underlying issues.”
Gabbard earlier this week introduced a bill that would change his status and make him eligible for legal, permanent residence.
Gabbard, Hirono, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and Sen. Brian Schatz, have all signed a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, asking him to intervene and stay the deportation.
Magana’s case made national news after a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge criticized the move to have the man deported, even though the judge acknowledged the court didn’t have the authority to block the deportation order.
West Hawaii Today reporter Cameron Miculka contributed to this report
