Deported Arizona mom makes new life in Mexico but misses kids 'dearly'
It has been a rough year for 36-year-old mother Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, deported on Feb. 9, 2017, after having lived in Arizona for 21 years.
Deported Arizona mom makes new life in Mexico but misses kids 'dearly' It has been a rough year for 36-year-old mother Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, deported on Feb. 9, 2017, after having lived in Arizona for 21 years. Check out this story on vcstar.com: http://azc.cc/2nWRJiu
Daniel Gonzalez, The Republic | azcentral.com Published 2:16 p.m. PT Feb. 9, 2018 | Updated 4:31 p.m. PT Feb. 10, 2018
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix ICE office for what until then had been a routine check-in. She has been separated from her two kids and husband for over a year.
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, video chats with her kids from her room in Acambaro, Mexico, over 1,400 miles from her family in Mesa, Arizona. Garcia de Rayos was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in.(Photo: Pat Shannahan/The Republic)
ACÁMBARO, Mexico — Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos sits on her bed, plugs in her phone and gets ready for the highlight of her night.
The screen lights up with Jacqueline, Guadalupe's daughter. Jackie's 15. She smiles, her mouth full of braces. Guadalupe stares back into the video-chat app on the phone.
A year ago, the two were looking at each other inches apart, through the barred window of a federal immigration vehicle.
Dramatic news photos captured Guadalupe's forlorn face that night, as several hundred angry protesters including Guadalupe's two children tried to block the vehicle from leaving Phoenix.
Later that night, she was driven to Nogales, Arizona, and sent across the border into Mexico — becoming, by all accounts, the first person deported as a result of President Donald Trump's newly ordered no-holds-barred approach to immigration enforcement.
A year later, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is living with her parents and extended family in Acámbaro, the same colonial town in central Mexico where she grew up, before crossing the border illegally into the U.S. when she was 14.
MORE: The story of an Arizona family shattered by deportation
It has been a rough year for the 36-year-old mother.
She struggles daily with depression, unable to earn a decent living despite help from the Mexican state government opening a tortilleria — tortilla shop — while coping with the emotional pain of being separated from her husband of 18 years and their two children, 17-year-old Angel and Jackie, all of whom remain 1,400 miles away in Mesa.
At night she is tormented by the hard choices the family must face: Should her husband and American children come live with her in Mexico? Or should they stay in the United States, separated perhaps forever, clinging to hope that she may one day be allowed to legally return?
In the meantime, barred from returning to the U.S. even for visits, Garcia de Rayos continues with her life here.
Tortilleria Lupita's
Deported Arizona mom Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos 1 year later
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, cooks breakfast at her mother's home in Acambaro, Mexico. She was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, sits in her room in Acambaro, Mexico, over 1,400 miles from her family in Mesa, Arizona. Garcia de Rayos was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, video chats with her kids from her room in Acambaro, Mexico, over 1,400 miles from her family in Mesa, Arizona. Garcia de Rayos was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos' husband talks to reporters outside ICE offices in Phoenix during a protest to mark the one-year anniversary of his wife's deportation. She was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. Pat Shannahan/The Republic
She usually rises at 6:40 a.m. each morning to open the tortilleria, located a short walk from her family's adobe and cement house. She spends several hours making and selling corn tortillas with help from a single employee.
She opened the shop in July, after the governor of the state of Guanajuato sent her a check for 320,000 pesos after her deportation received widespread news coverage in Mexico as well as in the U.S.
With the money — the equivalent of about $17,000, a small fortune in Mexico — Garcia de Rayos purchased three pieces of equipment: a large vat to cook dried corn; an industrial-size grinder to turn the corn into masa; and a machine that spits out fresh tortillas on a conveyor belt after the dough has been stuffed through a funnel.
To draw in customers, she also bought a yellow awning with the name of her business, "Tortilleria Lupita's," in black letters.
The tortilleria sits off a sidewalk on a narrow street lined with adjoining houses a few blocks from the town's central plaza. Garcia de Rayos can hear the bells from the main cathedral toll every hour.
She had the awning hung outside the store above the doorway, and to add a touch of beauty placed two potted plants on the front step.
Because the tortilleria is inside an empty house owned by her uncle, Garcia de Rayos doesn't have to pay rent.
But so far the tortilleria has been a bust.
Within a few blocks, there are several other tortillerias, each with their own established clientele. As the newest tortilleria, Guadalupe de Rayos's business can't compete.
Meanwhile, her tortilleria brings in about 150-200 pesos a day — about $8 to $10. That is less than she earned in a single hour as a maintenance worker in Mesa. The earnings are only enough for Garcia de Rayos to pay a woman she hires to help her with the laborious work of running the shop.
So now she is looking for a better location, closer to the center of town.
On a recent morning, however, the tortilla-making machine, still shiny and new-looking, sits idle. A part had broken loose and jammed the motor, knocking the machine out of service. Garcia de Rayos doesn't have money to pay a repairman. So instead of making tortillas, she is at home nursing a cold.
Sheets covering the open window in her room flap loudly as a fierce wind blows in from outside. A series of cold fronts had swept through the area, dropping temperatures at night into the upper 30s, unusual for this subtropical region.
Garcia de Rayos is sure she caught her cold from sleeping in her unheated room. The glass covering the window had broken months ago. But Garcia de Rayos couldn't afford to replace it.
Her nose red from her illness, she sits on the edge of her bed next to a mound of blankets wearing a blue hoodie to keep warm.
A new life with family
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. (Photo: Pat Shannahan/The Republic)
Her second-floor bedroom overlooks a small courtyard in the center of the house she shares with her mother and father, her sister and brother-in-law, her three nieces, and two aunts — 10 family members in all.
To reach her room, Guadalupe must climb a set of uneven, cement stairs that wind treacherously around the inner walls of the courtyard. With no railing, a fall from the top could be fatal.
The house lacks many of the comforts she had grown accustomed to in Arizona. The cement shower and dish-washing basin are outdoors, exposed to the sun and rain. The kitchen is so small family members take turns sitting at the wooden table during meals.
"It is very difficult, even though I am pretty happy to be with my family here. But once nighttime comes, I miss my children dearly."
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos
After she was deported, Garcia de Rayos was reunited with her family members, many of whom she had not seen in years, including her mother and father, a sister and brother. Some she had never met, including her three nieces, who were born after she left Mexico for the United States 21 years earlier.
Being surrounded by their love helps her get through the pain of being separated from her husband and children.
She also tries to keep busy. Besides running the tortilla shop, she helps out at a stand selling cups of sliced fruit her sister and mother run in the center of town, across from the massive Catholic cathedral that anchors the town plaza.
But when darkness falls, she dreads returning to her bedroom alone.
"It is very difficult, even though I am pretty happy to be with my family here," she says. "But once nighttime comes, I miss my children dearly."
She points at a bed on the other side of the room, below a poster of Jesus, blond and blue-eyed, raising his hand as if giving a blessing.
"That is where my children sleep when they visit," she says.
Angel and Jackie
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos with her daughter Jacqueline and her son Angel. (Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)
Angel and Jackie have visited their mother three times in Mexico: for a week in March during spring break, for a month in July, and for two weeks during Christmas break.
As U.S. citizens, they are free to travel back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico.
To get there, they must travel first from Phoenix to Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, a nearly three-hour flight, and then drive four more hours to Acámbaro, a bustling railroad hub with cobblestone streets known throughout Mexico for its sweet bread.
Angel and Jackie live with their father in a comfortable split-level home with a two-car garage and a large yard in east Mesa.
He has not seen his wife since she was deported. He asked that his name not be published because he fears his family could be targeted by "racist people."
"This feeling in your heart, it makes you sad. You know, you start crying. And my mom starts crying. And what I think, right when I hug her that last time, is, 'Nobody should have to go through this.'"
Angel, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos' son
He works at a restaurant as a cook. After his wife was deported, he said he took on a second job at a shoe store to make up for the loss of income from her job at Golfland Sunsplash, an amusement park in Mesa where she earned about $12.75 an hour cleaning the pools and other maintenance work.
Sitting in his yard as his dad cooked chicken on a gas grill nearby, Angel recalled how hard it was to say goodbye to his mother at the airport in Guadalajara at the end of their last visit in January.
"Just giving her that last hug, it was like, 'Whoa, this is the last time I am going to see you for a while.' This feeling in your heart, it makes you sad. You know, you start crying. And my mom starts crying. And what I think, right when I hug her that last time, is, 'Nobody should have to go through this.'"
Before Garcia de Rayos was deported, Jackie and her mom loved shopping for clothes and cuddling on the bed. Growing up, Jackie dreamed of having a big quinceañera celebration when she turned 15, a tradition for Latinas. Instead she celebrated her 15th birthday quietly in July in Mexico. Garcia de Rayos made her favorite food: chicken wings.
But it's the little daily things she misses most about her mom, like coming home from school and she's not there.
"I would always come home to her cooking food, and now just me and my brother come home and make food for ourselves," she said.
Better off in Arizona
Even though it means living apart, Garcia de Rayos says she doesn't want to raise her two children in Mexico.
They will receive a better education and have more opportunities in Arizona, she says.
She also worries about her children getting sick in Mexico. Just the week before, her pregnant sister-in-law lost her baby because the hospital didn't see her in time.
She also doesn't want her children exposed to the violence in Mexico. She hears about people getting killed daily on the news, and even witnessed a shooting while walking in the center of her town.
"Do you think this is a safe place for my kids? It's not," Garcia de Rayos says. "I know people criticize me and say, 'Why doesn't her family go live over there (in Mexico)?' They have no clue how bad it is over here."
New administration, new priorities
Mesa resident Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was deported in February. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)
Garcia de Rayos was deported the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what, until then, had been a routine check-in.
In March 2009, Garcia de Rayos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal impersonation for using someone else's Social Security number to work illegally. The charge stemmed from a worksite raid conducted by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2008 at Golfland Sunsplash, an amusement park in Mesa where Garcia de Rayos had worked.
MORE: Arrest while working at fun park led to Arizona woman's deportation
After three months in the Estrella Jail, she was transferred to ICE custody and spent three more months at a federal detention center in Florence before she was released on a $6,000 bond.
Deemed a low deportation priority under the Obama administration, ICE declined to deport Garcia de Rayos for eight years, even though she was issued a final order of removal in 2013, as long as she checked in annually and stayed out of trouble with the law. The temporary reprieve also made her eligible for a work permit, which she used to return to her job at Golfland Sunsplash, this time legally.
Then Trump was elected. Days after the inauguration on Jan. 25, 2017, Trump signed one of three executive orders related to border security and immigration, following through on a campaign promise to greatly expand deportation priorities. During a major speech on immigration Trump delivered in Phoenix in August 2016, the candidate had declared, "No one will be immune or exempt from enforcement."
MORE: Deported Arizona mom: Victim or convicted felon?
Garcia's annual check-in with ICE fell on Feb. 8, just two weeks after Trump ordered ICE to take a more aggressive stance toward immigration enforcement. Her deportation drew international attention, and reflected a sudden and dramatic shift in U.S. immigration policy from the Obama administration.
Response to deportation of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is interviewed at the border wall on Feb. 10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (left) and her brother, Angel Rayos Garcia, are interviewed at the border wall on Feb. 10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Their mom, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, is also being interviewed. Mark Henle/The Republic
The Garcia de Rayos family hugs while being interviewed at the border wall on Feb. 10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
The family of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is interviewed at the border wall on Feb. 10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia checks his phone while being interviewed at the border wall on Feb.10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
The family of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos hugs while being interviewed at the border wall on Feb. 10, 2017, in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia embraces his mom, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, during breakfast on Feb. 10, 2017, at the Hotel Fray Marcos de Niza in Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is his sister, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia. Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is interviewed on Feb. 10, 2017, in the the lobby of the Hotel Fray Marcos de Niza, Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (center) and her son, Angel Rayos Garcia and her daughter, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia have breakfast on Feb. 10, 2017, at the Hotel Fray Marcos de Niza in Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (left) and her daughter, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (left) answers questions, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is her daughter, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia. Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (left, sitting) answers questions, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is her daughter, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (center), and son, Angel Rayos Garcia (right). Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos answers questions Feb. 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Mark Henle/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (right) answers questions, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is her mom, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (center), and brother, Angel Rayos Garcia (left). Mark Henle/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (right) answers questions, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is her mom, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia (left) answers questions, February 9, 2017, during a press conference at the Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Sonora. Looking on is his mom, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (center), and his sister, Jacqueline Rayos Garcia (right). Mark Henle/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (left) and her two children,Angel Rayos Garcia andJacqueline Rayos Garcia. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia, 16, and Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, check social media on their phones en route to Nogales, Sonora, to be reunited with their mother, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. Mark Henle/The Republic
Jacqueline de Garcia Rayos (right, daughter, 14) and Angel de Garcia Rayos (16, son) check social media on their phones while een route to Nogales, Sonora,to be reunited with their mother, Guadalupe de Garcia Rayos. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia, 16, and Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, on their way to be reunited with their mother, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. Mark Henle/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia, 16, the son of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, speaks to the press as he is comforted by his father, the husband of Guadalupe, who doesn't wish to be identified by name, outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 9, 2017. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody on Wednesday and deported to Mexico on Thursday. Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, looks on. David Wallace/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, cries as she speaks to the press as her father, the husband of Guadalupe, who doesn't wish to be identified by name, comforts her, during a press conference speaking about Guadalupe outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Thursday, February 9, 2017. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody on Wednesday and deported to Mexico on Thursday. David Wallace/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, cries as her father, the husband of Guadalupe, who doesn't wish to be identified by name, comforts her, as they listen to Guadalupe's immigration attorney, Ray Ybarra-Maldonado, speak to the press during a press conference speaking about Guadalupe outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 9, 2017. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody on Wednesday and deported to Mexico on Thursday. David Wallace/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, leans against her father, the husband of Guadalupe, who doesn't wish to be identified by name, during a press conference speaking about Guadalupe outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 9, 2017. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody on Wednesday and deported to Mexico on Thursday. David Wallace/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, 14, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, cries as she speaks to the press as her father, the husband of Guadalupe, who doesn't wish to be identified by name, comforts her, during a press conference speaking about Guadalupe outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 9, 2017. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody on Wednesday and deported to Mexico on Thursday. David Wallace/The Republic
Hilda Canalas waves an American flag while her and other protesters temporarily block Central Avenue vehicle and light-rail traffic outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2016. People were protesting because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody and could be deported. David Wallace/The Republic
Protesters temporarily block Central Avenue vehicle and light-rail traffic outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2016. People were protesting because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody and could be deported. David Wallace/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. For the past four years, federal immigration authorities have given Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, protests outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. People were protesting because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody and could be deported. David Wallace/The Republic
Phoenix riot police stand guard outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. David Wallace/The Republic
Police stand guard during a protest near the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Phoenix Police clear protesters after they temporarily blocked Central Avenue vehicle and light rail traffic outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2016. People were protesting because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody and could be deported. David Wallace/The Republic
Angel Rayos Garcia (from left), the son of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos; Gabby Martinez, 16; and Jacqueline Rayos Garcia, the daughter of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, protest outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. People were protesting because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody and could be deported. David Wallace/The Republic
Demonstrators confront police officers during a protest near the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Phoenix police force people out of the streets outside ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. David Wallace/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos' son outside the ICE van carrying his mother in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Daniel Gonzalez/The Republic
Police detain a man during a protest near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Police stand guard during a protest near the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Protesters stage a demonstration near the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Protesters stage a demonstration near the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
A demonstrator argues with a police officer during a protest near the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Police detain protesters near the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Police officers stand guard during a protest near the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Ben Moffat/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos sits inside an ICE van, with her son on the outside in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Daniel Gonzalez/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. For the past four years, federal immigration authorities have given Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos in locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office on in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (behind glass) is locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos in locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. For the past four years, federal immigration authorities have given Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
A protester locked himself to the van carrying Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. For the past four years, federal immigration authorities have given Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
A protester locked himself to the van carrying Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. For the past four years, federal immigration authorities have given Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos in locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Protesters photograph Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos locked in a van outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. Daniel Gonzales/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped by protesters outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017, in Phoenix. For the pastfouryears, federal immigration authorities have givenGuadalupe Garcia de Rayos a pass to remain in the U.S. rather than deport her back to Mexico. Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is inside an ICE van, as her son speaks to her through the window on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. Johana Restrepo/The Republic
Protesters sit outside the van Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in outside the ICE office on Feb. 8, 2017 in Phoenix. Daniel Gonzalez/The Republic
Protesters sit outside the ICE headquarters in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Daniel Gonzalez/The Republic
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos (center, at microphones) on Feb. 8, 2017, addresses supporters who gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in central Phoenix, where she would later learn that she was being deported. Brianna Bradley/The Republic
About 100 people gathered outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in central Phoenix in support of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos on Feb. 8, 2017. Brianna Bradley/The Republic
Supporters of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos comfort each other after learning she would be deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix on Feb. 8, 2017. Brianna Bradley/The Republic
During Trump's first nine months in office, from Jan. 20 to Sept. 30, 2017, ICE made 110,668 arrests, a 42 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, according to a January 2018 report by the Migration Policy Institute on Trump's immigration record.
Of the 110,568 arrests, 29 percent were people with no criminal conviction, the report said. By comparison, 90 percent of people removed by ICE from the interior of the U.S. in 2016, under the Obama administration, had been convicted of serious crimes.
MORE: Man whose ID was used by deported mom reports no problems
"This is a sharp break from the end of the Obama administration, during which interior enforcement focuses almost exclusively on criminals," the report said.
Garcia de Rayos' removal also foreshadowed a wave of similar deportations in the months that followed. ICE removed 61,094 people from the interior of the U.S. during the first nine months of the Trump administration, a 37 percent increase from the year before, according to the Migration Policy Institute report.
This drew praise from proponents of more aggressive immigration enforcement as a way of protecting American jobs, and condemnation from human-rights advocates opposed to the separation of families and the removal of workers they say contribute to the economy.
'Only a miracle can help me'
Before going to her check-in, Garcia de Rayos said she knew there was a possibility ICE would arrest and deport her. But in the back of her mind, she thought the agency might not follow through so quickly on Trump's order.
The Rev. Ken Heintzelman, the pastor at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ, offered to let Garcia de Rayos take sanctuary from ICE inside the church, where six immigrants facing deportation have lived since June 2014.
But Garcia de Rayos said she declined. She needed to keep working to help support her family.
The other option was to try hiding from ICE. But ICE knew where she lived. And she said she didn't want to be always looking over her shoulder.
MORE: Why didn't deported Arizona mom apply for citizenship?
Looking back, Garcia de Rayos says she doesn't have any regrets about turning herself in to ICE. Showing up for the check-in was the right thing to do, she said. A devout Catholic, she prayed before the ICE check-in that she wouldn't be deported.
Now she prays that she will be reunited with her family in Arizona. But that won't be easy.
Garcia de Rayos' felony conviction virtually destroyed her chances of ever returning to the U.S. legally, even though a sister who is a U.S. citizen applied for her to get a green card 15 years ago. Her children could also sponsor her for a green card once they turn 21.
"I hope God touches those people's hearts so that they may take that felony off my record."
But Ray Ybarra Maldonado, a Phoenix attorney, is optimistic. He is trying to have her felony case reopened. If he succeeds, he then plans to ask a judge to throw out the conviction based on the grounds that Arpaio's worksite raids were deemed likely unconstitutional in 2015 by a federal district court judge.
The district court judge's ruling led to the dismissal of more than 200 similar cases stemming from Arpaio's worksite raids, giving Maldonado hope he may be able to get Garcia de Rayos' felony conviction thrown out as well.
MORE: Mariopca County paid $1 million to settle Arpaio-era immigration lawsuit
But in 2016, a federal appeals court ruled Arpaio's raids were not unconstitutional. And even if Maldonado is successful getting Garcia de Rayos' felony conviction thrown out, she would still face the challenge of removing a 10-year ban from returning for having lived in the U.S. illegally.
If she comes back illegally, she risks being permanently banned.
Adding to the challenges are Republican-led proposals in the House and Senate backed by Trump that, if passed, would eliminate Garcia de Rayos' children and sister from sponsoring her for a green card.
"I think only a miracle can help me," Garcia de Rayos says, back in her bedroom. "I hope God touches those people's hearts so that they may take that felony off my record."
'Los quiero mucho'
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, video chats with her kids from her room in Acambaro, Mexico, over 1,400 miles from her family in Mesa, Arizona. Garcia de Rayos was deported to Mexico on Feb. 9, 2017, the day after she had gone to the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what until then had been a routine check-in. (Photo: Pat Shannahan/The Republic)
Later that night, Garcia de Rayos slowly navigates her way up the cement stairs in the darkness to her bedroom. She is returning from a walk with her brother-in-law's sister, ready for the highlight of each night.
Garcia de Rayos picks up her phone and presses the keys, calling her daughter in Mesa.Jackie appears.
For the next several minutes, Garcia de Rayos is no longer separated from her family.
She asks her children in Spanish how their day has gone.
Jackie tells her she's been sick and stayed home from school.
Garcia de Rayos asks what their grandma brought over for them to eat since their father is out that night attending a prayer meeting at church.
"She made me the noodle soup you used to make," Jackie tells her.
In the background, Jackie's brother, Angel, is clowning around.
"Angel, stop!" Jackie yells, in English.
Angel then gets on the phone. He's also been sick, with allergies, he tells his mom.
I love you so much, Garcia de Rayos repeats over and over in Spanish. Take care of yourselves.
"Los quiero mucho. Cuidense. Adios."
Then the screen on her phone goes dark.
Guadalupe de Rayos suddenly looks very alone, sitting on her bed holding the phone in her hand.
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