Luis Barrios, an undocumented father of four from Derby, has been granted a 30-day reprieve on a deportation order that would have forced him to leave the country Thursday morning and return to Guatemala.
A tearful Barrios expressed his gratitude to supporters at a news conference at 5 p.m. Wednesday in front of his two-story home on a quiet street, saying, "I would like to say thank you everybody for supporting me ... God bless you everyone."
Surrounded by family members who also wiped tears from their eyes, Barrios, who fled Guatemala for safety 24 years ago and is a sanitation worker, said that his family has tried to demonstrate "that we are a good family" with the desire to be "good citizens over here."
His lawyer, Erin O'Neil-Baker, said, "We are extremely grateful for everybody's efforts and the family is overwhelmed with joy for this small reprieve."
O'Neil-Baker said the next step for her client, who would have been on a 4 a.m. flight Thursday bound for Guatemala, will be to pursue a motion pending with the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen the order for Barrios' removal.
"We hope we can work with Immigration and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to find a resolution here and possibly, hopefully give Mr. Barrios an opportunity to actually hear the merits of his case."
She said the hope is to find a "permanent solution."
O'Neil-Baker said the stay was granted by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said it was due to a lot of efforts "on a lot of fronts," but noted the work of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, whose 3rd District includes Derby, and Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
"Definitely you had the efforts by the congressmen, but it was the groundwork, it was the community support, it was the public outrage that moved and created the awareness that led to this," O'Neil-Baker said.
Barrios also had the support of community and immigration groups, the Working Families organization and unions. On Tuesday about a hundred people protested the deportation order in Hartford, saying that Barrios should be granted asylum. Nineteen of those protesters were arrested.
After the announcement at 5 p.m., Barrios received a call from an "overwhelmed" DeLauro, who talked on speakerphone as the family huddled around.
"I just want to cry with joy. I am so, so happy for all of you," she said. "I know we have work still to do but this is wonderful, wonderful news and we thank God. Above all, thank God that they decided to do this."
It was Blumenthal who called Barrios at about 4:45 p.m. to give him the good news.
Blumenthal said he intervened in Barrios' case during the five hours before the announcement, contacting ICE headquarters in Washington and "presenting the very compelling facts in this case."
"We were not informed until late [Wednesday] afternoon" about the stay, he said. "I called Luis Barrios and told him about the stay. It was a very emotional phone call."
During the news conference, Barrios said he didn't tell his younger daughters, 11-year-old twins, about his possible departure until Tuesday. When he did, Barrios said, "They were saying Daddy, why you go over there? How long you going to be there? I don't want you to go. I try to explain, but sometimes it's hard."
For the Barrios family, Wednesday could have been their last day together, but Barrio's son, Lester, 16, said his father woke up with a "feeling" that he wouldn't be leaving. Lester said his father didn't pack his bags, even though he would have had to leave his home at midnight to make the 4 a.m. flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The kids went off to school as usual.
It was an almost normal day, Lester said, until Barrios' lawyer, supporters and the news media began to arrive in the afternoon.
"Even I felt it today," Lester said. "My mom did too."
Barrios' lawyer, O'Neil-Baker said she thought that "deep down in Mr. Barrios' heart, he had a feeling that good things would happen today ... He felt in his heart that the system would work. I had a very different feeling. I was preparing to say goodbye."
O'Neil-Baker told a reporter several times during the day Wednesday as she waited for news from the Board of Immigration Appeals or the Department of Homeland Security that she didn't know how it would go.
"It's one of these last-minute things," O'Neil-Baker said about midday. "I've seen cases turn at the last minute, but I've also seen a lot of cases where the person leaves. It really could go either way on this case."
She said she will have to work harder to ensure that a permanent solution is found to allow Barrios to remain in the country. "I don't want him and his family to have to go through this again," she said.
Barrios, who has no criminal record, faced deportation, his supporters say, because of stepped-up immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump.
In 1992, Barrios has said, he fled his native Guatemala because of threats of violence. His father received death threats and soon after he left, his father was killed. In 2004, his brother was murdered.
Barrios was ordered to be removed from the U.S. in 1998 when, after applying for asylum, he failed to show up for a hearing. He came back onto immigration authorities' radar in 2011 when he was pulled over by state police for a broken taillight and turned over to federal agents. But Barrios was granted a stay of removal that has been renewed each year until now.
The difference, his attorney and supporters say, is a new presidential administration led by Trump, who has vowed to crack down on unlawful immigration.
Barrios is seeking a new asylum claim but has been unsuccessful in getting a hearing. In court documents, Barrios explained how his wife's family has been targeted by violence in the Central American country and said he fears for his life if he returns.
O'Neil-Baker said in court papers that Barrios faces even greater danger since he married Dora Beltran in 2012. His wife's 16-year-old niece was kidnapped and murdered in 2010, and two of her nephews were shot, one fatally, in 2011. Barrios has said his wife's family has faced escalating threats for trying to bring to justice the people responsible for the murders.
Blumenthal said that Barrio's case shows "powerfully why we need comprehensive immigration reform."
"He's been in this country since 1992, his children are all U.S. citizens because they were born here," Blumenthal said. "His wife is a U.S. citizen and very compellingly and convincingly, he faced a real and immediate threat of death or severe injury if he were forced to return to Guatemala."
"No case like Luis Barrios should come down to the last minute as this one did," Blumenthal said. "No one like him should face this threat of separation from his family and possible death."