May 1, 2007 7:02 pm US/Central
Immigrant Family Torn Apart By Deportation
Man Arrived With Mother, Siblings 20 Years Ago Now Being Sent Back To Mexico
by Katie McCall
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Ramona Nuno holds pictures at Tuesday's immigration rally of her son, who is awaiting deportation.
CBS
The Nuno family went to the immigration rally Tuesday because they are being torn apart by deportation.
As CBS 2's Katie McCall reports, their relative called Chicago home for more than 20 years, and is now being sent back to Mexico.
Ramona Nuno is grateful she can hold her 7-month-old grandson. But when it comes to her son Ricardo, all she can hold is his picture.
He is in a federal detention center, awaiting deportation.
"We are not animals," she told CBS 2 in Spanish. "We are not criminals."
"He is the only one who is being deported because he doesn't have papers," she added.
Nuno brought her 11 children to the U.S. in 1981 to give them a better life than the one they had in rural Jalisco, Mexico. They found that life here in Chicago.
But last year, Ricardo was arrested by federal agents. His family says the father of five, who owned a home and ran a successful tile business, had an expired work permit. Next year, he will be deported to Mexico.
"We are about to lose the house," Ramona Nuno said.
"We have a better life here, it pays better here," said Efrain Nuno, Ricardo's brother. "We come here to work, to make a better living."
Efrain has taken over Ricardo's business, but worries he cannot do it alone and that the five children Ricardo leaves behind will suffer.
"They're about to lose everything because he's not working," Efrain said.
Ramona Nuno knows there is not much she can do for her son, but she says she attended Tuesday's rally for all the families separated by deportation.
"I want amnesty for everyone," she said.
The Nuno family says having a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants could help families like theirs stay together.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
SLIDESHOW: Chicago Immigration March And Rally
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