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58-Year U.S. Green Card Holder Faces Deportation After Airport Detention
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Victor Avila, a 66-year-old U.S. green card holder, was detained last month at a Bay Area airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after returning home from visiting his son stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in Japan.
Avila legally immigrated to the United States from Mexico with his family as a teenager in 1967 and has held a green card ever since, his daughter told KGTV San Diego.
Newsweek reached out to ICE and to Kiwan & Chambers, the law firm Avila works for, for comment.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump campaigned on a hard-line immigration stance and pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
The Trump administration said it deported around 100,000 illegal immigrants in the initial months of the presidency, and many individuals have been deported following Trump's invoking the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798, something which has been criticized and blocked by judges.
ICE has been conducting raids around the country. Some of the subsequent arrests have been viewed as heavy-handed, while others have wrongly targeted people suspected of having no legal status in the U.S.
What To Know
Avila is a resident of San Diego, California, who has worked for over a decade as a legal assistant for the Kiwan & Chambers law firm, representing injured workers.
He is a father and a grandfather. His daughter, Carina Mejia, told KGTV San Diego that in 2009, Avila had been pulled over and arrested for a DUI and drug possession, and he ultimately served a few months in jail.
"Two misdemeanors. Served all his time, paid all he had to pay," Meija said. "Since then, he's been a good man, a hard worker. Hasn't gotten into trouble, not one time. He's dedicated himself to his family."
Meija said that immigration authorities renewed her father's green card twice since that arrest.
A GoFundMe started for Avila said that he has now been transferred to an ICE detention center outside of Bakersfield.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 11–12, which surveyed 1,136 Americans nationwide, found that 52 percent of respondents (including one in five Democrats and nine in 10 Republicans) supported deportations of people in the country illegally.
Forty-nine percent of people in the poll said that Trump had gone too far with his arrests of immigrants, as opposed to 40 percent who said he had not.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Caleb Vitello joins ICE officers in New York City on January 28, 2025.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Caleb Vitello joins ICE officers in New York City on January 28, 2025.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images
What People Are Saying
A message on the GoFundMe for Victor Avila reads: "We are confident Victor has a strong case but it will be long road home."
Victor Avila's daughter, Carina Mejia, told KGTV San Diego: "I've visited him several times. There are days he's hopeful, optimistic. Then there's days he mentally prepares himself for the worst...I want my dad back. I want my dad home."
What Happens Next
Avila's deportation hearing has been scheduled for July 15 at an ICE facility in the Bakersfield area, with his family and legal team preparing a defense.
