Current Events > They voted for Trump and now their son is in ICE detention

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Just 2 miles away from a sprawling South Georgia immigrant jail sits El Refugio, a hospitality house where the loved ones of immigrant detainees can find free meals and lodging.
People come from across the South, and beyond, to visit loved ones in this remote area of the state that is home to the Stewart Detention Center which, at roughly 1,700 detainees, is the countrys second-largest.
On a recent Sunday, El Refugios visitors included married couple Martin Verdi and Debora Rey, two Argentine Americans.
Verdi and Rey drove nine hours from their home in North Carolina to see their son, Agustin Gentile, who is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Stewart. They sat on El Refugios back porch while waiting for their visitation appointment.
This is craziness, Rey said.
Verdi and Rey voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, saying they supported his pledge to bring order to the southern border and crack down on immigrants without legal status.
But he didnt say he was going to do this, that he was going to go after people who have been here for a long time, Rey said. He said he was going to go after all the criminals who came illegally.
Gentile, 31, was a toddler when the family moved from Argentina to the U.S. in the mid-90s. He is a green card holder, and the father of two U.S. citizen children, ages 6 and 8.
We feel betrayed, tricked.

Verdi and Rey say they have shielded their grandkids from the severity of Gentiles current situation in South Georgia, where he is clad in an orange jumpsuit and fighting to remain in the country. They told the children that he had to leave on an urgent trip.
They ask, Where is my daddy? And we cant tell them, Daddy is in jail, Verdi said.
We had to lie to them because we dont want to hurt them, Rey added.

Gentile was targeted by immigration officials because of a misdemeanor on his record following a 2020 conviction in California of infliction of injury. He was initially sentenced to five years probation, subsequently reduced to three, in a case that was closed in 2023, court records show.
In February, after Gentile returned to the U.S. from a trip abroad and landed at the Los Angeles International Airport, Department of Homeland Security officials confiscated his green card and Argentine passport.

They directed Gentile to report to a Customs and Border Protection office in Raleigh, where he lives, on April 14. When he did, officials detained him and sent him to a local county jail. After two days, Verdi says he was transferred to Stewart.
My son tells me that where he is right now, he is the only person who has papers. Everyone else is undocumented, Rey said.
Legal immigrants targeted
In its first 100 days, the Trump administrations immigration dragnet has impacted foreign nationals living in the country legally.
That has been most felt on college campuses, as federal officials have in recent weeks revoked 1,500 student visas.

Rey and Verdi said they are troubled by Gentiles notice to appear before an immigration judge, because they say it erroneously insinuates that Gentile has previously spent years in jail.
For the 2020 offense in California, you were sentenced to five (5) years in probation with two (2) served in confinement, the notice document reads.
He spent just two days in the Los Angeles County jail, court records show.

They lodged a habeas corpus petition challenging Gentiles detention, but he is not guaranteed an immigration court hearing before May 12.
The weeks Gentile will have to spend in detention are weighing on his parents.
They say Gentile has told them that Stewart has at times been overcrowded, with people sleeping on the floor with lights kept on throughout the night. Hes had trouble getting access to basic toiletries, and relies on cups of noodle soup bought at the commissary for sustenance, his parents said, because provided meals are difficult to stomach a complaint other Stewart detainees have made over the years.

He asks me What time is it? Sometimes he calls me, and he doesnt even know what the time is, Rey said.
Brian Todd, a spokesperson of CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates Stewart, disputed those accounts of conditions inside the facility.
The allegations you were provided are completely false, Todd said in a statement. We take seriously our obligation to adhere to all applicable federal detention standards in our ICE-contracted facilities. In terms of the specific claims you provided, all detainees receive a toiletries kit upon arrival, and everyone is offered a bed.
He added that three nutritious meals are provided to Stewart detainees every day.

Feeling betrayed by Trump

In the run-up to last years election, Rey and Verdi said they remembered Trump speaking about people like Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan man with no lawful status in the country who was convicted of the murder of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus.
During the campaign he gave the example of many criminals from Venezuela who had come in, because many criminals from Venezuela had even killed people. That has nothing to with cases like these, Verdi said.
The couple said they of course would not have voted for Trump had they realized what the scale of the immigration crackdown was going to be.
This was a massive deception what he did. Because the other side had shown us how indulgent they were (with immigration), Rey said.
But we went from having a completely open door to closing it shut with 10 bolts, Verdi continued.

The couples shifting views on Trump are not unique, as is reflected in the presidents sliding approval ratings on immigration, which were relatively strong early in the presidents term but have sunk into negative territory.
Around the administrations 100-day mark, national poll after national poll is showing that a majority of Americans disapprove of its handling of immigration. In Georgia, a survey conducted in mid-April by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates that 52% of voters oppose the presidents immigration policies.

completely open door

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I will never get over these idiots feeling "betrayed"

None of what Trump's doing is a surprise, we shouted about this shit back in 2016, again in 2020, and again in 2024 and all the time in between. They refused to listen and are now mad their actions have had consequences that affect them

These people think they are the main character. They felt they had a legit reason to be here so therefore deportation policies wouldn't affect them.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/27d09846.jpg

But he didnt say he was going to do this, that he was going to go after people who have been here for a long time, Rey said. He said he was going to go after all the criminals who came illegally.

This was a massive deception what he did. Because the other side had shown us how indulgent they were (with immigration), Rey said.
But we went from having a completely open door to closing it shut with 10 bolts, Verdi continued.

Feeling betrayed by Trump

It's like when a drunk driver gets into an accident, and kills 3 people including themselves. You want to feel bad for them, but like... other people died, and decided not to drive drunk, and were hurt by their actions.

Ask them if they regret their vote and they'd probably still say, "No, Harris would be worse."

I'm still not clear on what exactly the son was detained for - he served/finished his sentence (on probation) in 2023?

In related news, obesity is becoming an epidemic for face-eating leopards.

I'm still not clear on what exactly the son was detained for - he served/finished his sentence (on probation) in 2023?

Because they really just want to deport all minorities. But for now they go after anyone with any prior contact with law enforcement and use that as justification. "You served 2 days in jail? Violent criminal that needs to be deported!"

Being the wrong color. That's been the playbook this entire time, hoss. They don't care if they're here legally, illegally, whatever. Doesn't matter. This is a racist organization committing racist acts.

I'm still not clear on what exactly the son was detained for - he served/finished his sentence (on probation) in 2023?

The Trump administration believes that crime or any sort of disruptive behavior allows a green card to be voided.

Because the dude had been in jall for 2 days at some point they don't think he has grounds to stay here.

So because his legal status has "expired" in their view he was rounded up.

I mean, I hate what's happening here. The country is being broken and the government is attacking it's own citizens then claiming terrorism after the fact. It's all sorts of messed up, and it's hurting many people that didn't want this.

...but, it is getting more and more difficult to feel sorry for the ones that voted for this. It's the entire Republican party and it's supporters just collectively said "hurt me, daddy" to Trump and then get surprised when he follows through.

We feel betrayed, tricked.

I mean, I hate what's happening here. The country is being broken and the government is attacking it's own citizens then claiming terrorism after the fact. It's all sorts of messed up, and it's hurting many people that didn't want this.

...but, it is getting more and more difficult to feel sorry for the ones that voted for this. It's the entire Republican party and it's supporters just collectively said "hurt me, daddy" to Trump and then get surprised when he follows through.

Womp womp