The father of three had stepped outside his Port Chester home to drive to work that morning when he was met by federal agents wearing ballistic vests and placed in handcuffs.
And with that, Milton Guamarrigra, a marble installer and volunteer firefighter who has lived in Port Chester for more than 20 years, was swept up in the Trump's administration's mass deportation push on July 29. The 43-year-old Ecuador native is now awaiting his fate in a Michigan jail as his wife and children raise money for his legal defense and hold out hope for his return.
In an interview on Thursday, August 7, Joselyn Guamarrigra said she had no idea why the authorities chose to come after her dad, other than a long-ignored, 2004 deportation order they must have dusted off. He had a pending green card application that she filed on his behalf and that had languished for two to three years.
Her father had been moved three times since his 6:50 a.m. arrest, shuttled between detention centers in New York City and New Jersey before being taken on Monday night to Calhoun County Correctional Facility, about two hours west of Detroit. The family has a lawyer to represent him but little information so far about what will happen to him next in his immigration case.
"Our hope is just he doesn't get deported," his daughter said.
The media office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't respond to a request for information about her father's arrest.
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Joselyn Guamarrigra, 23, said she was at the gym when agents surrounded the brick house on North Regent Street where her family lives. Her mother and younger siblings, ages 17 and 8, were sleeping. Her father was headed to work at the marble installation company where he has worked for 22 years.
A neighbor's video of the arrest, later posted on Facebook, shows agents leading Milton Guamarrigra in handcuffs to police vehicles with flashing lights, parked on the side of the tree-lined street.
His family is seeking to raise $8,000 for his defense and court costs through a GoFundMe page and had reached $6,775 by noon on Friday, August 8. They're also holding an Aug. 16 fundraiser at their home. Milton Guamarrigra, who does side work as a contractor and has been a volunteer firefighter since 2018, was his family's main breadwinner.
Guamarrigra's arrest came two days before another Westchester County resident, 20-year-old Yeonsoo Go, was taken into custody after she went to an immigration case hearing in New York City. Accused of having an expired visa, the Scarsdale High School graduate spent four days in custody in New York and Louisiana until she was released to home confinement, thanks to the lobbying efforts of various elected officials.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Port Chester NY firefighter held in Michigan jail after ICE arrest
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