Air Force officer’s mom returns home to Central Coast after deportation: ‘I’m very happy’

A little more than two years ago, Juana Flores of Goleta was forced to leave the country where she had spent 30 years building her life, raising 10 children — including a currently deployed military service member — and becoming grandmother to 18, buying a home and becoming a part of a strong community.

Now she is back at home with her husband, Andres, and their family after Juana was granted humanitarian parole from the U.S. government following a two-year legal battle that brought the support of local activists, politicians and community members fighting for her return.

“I’m very happy,” Flores said. “To see my children, my home.”

The Flores family commemorated its surprise reunion with a welcome-home party on Sunday at Santa Barbara’s Oak Park, where friends, relatives and local elected representatives gathered, both to celebrate Flores and those who helped her along the way.

It was also an early birthday party for Flores, whose birthday is Wednesday.

“We are overjoyed,” daughter Cristina Flores said.

Flores entered the United States from Mexico without a visa in 1988, two years after then-President Ronald Reagan signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act that granted legal status to most undocumented immigrants who had entered before 1982.

Although Flores had received several extensions to be allowed to stay in the United States, on humanitarian grounds, those ended on Feb. 26, 2019. Two months later, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered her back to Mexico, and she left voluntarily.

Cristina Flores said the family was unsure of when or if her mother would ever be allowed back into the country. She said the two years were hard on her and the family, with holidays and Sunday dinners always missing something.

“It was not the same,” Cristina Flores said.

Federal law prevented Flores from asking to return to the United States for 10 years from when she was deported.

A legal team, headed by Santa Barbara immigration law attorney Kraig Rice and retired Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa, aided the family’s efforts to reverse the deportation.

Ochoa became involved shortly after Flores was deported.

“I told her, this is not over yet,” he said. “We’re going to work every day to get you back home.”

The legal team tackled the case from every angle, trying to gain a presidential pardon, even looking into older laws for precedent. They ultimately succeeded in receiving a humanitarian parole, which allows Flores one year to stay in the country.

Rice recalls making the phone call to the family, informing them that Flores would be returning. He said that call was a welcome contrast to the two years of bad news he had been forced to report to them.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to make that call,” he said.

Although Flores’ parole only lasts one year, her support team is working to secure her permanent residency, without the threat of deportation.

In March 2019, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, introduced the Protect Patriot Parents Act, which would protect the parents of children serving in the U.S. military from deportation.

Flores’ son, Sgt. Cesar Flores, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2016.

“When we send somebody abroad, we need them to focus on their mission,” Rice said. “Not their loved ones being deported. These are the real family values and military values that matter.”

According to Carbajal, there are currently 11,800 active service members with immediate family members who could face immigration issues. He said the sweeping immigration crackdown under former President Donald Trump’s administration put many in danger of deportation, something he said he is hopeful will change under President Joe Biden.

“This requires a recalibration back to previous Republican and Democrat administrations,” said Carbajal, three-term Democratic legislator representing San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. “They were sensible.”

Along with Carbajal, Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte, Goleta City Councilman Stuart Kasdin and Santa Barbara Unified School District board member Rose Muñoz attended Sunday’s celebration at Oak Park.

Andres Flores, who had only been able to visit his wife three times in the two years she spent in Mexico, said when he went to pick her up in Tijuana on Friday — also his birthday — was the best gift he could’ve asked for.

“I’m so happy,” he said. “I’m so surprised.”

Cristina Flores drove with her father to the airport in Tijuana, and said the reunion was a welcome relief after the two years of uncertainty.

“I was crying, everybody was crying,” she said.

Flores’ humanitarian parole began when she passed through the San Diego entry point on June 4, and will last one year. Ochoa said that although there is still a long road ahead, Flores’ supporters are happy to have come to this point and have her back with her family.

“I feel greatly relieved and gratified that the effort yielded positive results,” he said.