Plight of U.S. Deported Veterans draws several independent film companies that will document the Valenzuela brothers Mexico-U.S. tour.
By H. Nelson Goodson
January 14, 2013
Colorado Springs, Colorado - On January 19, both U.S. Veterans Jesus Manuel, 59, and Valente Valenzuela, 62, who themselves were on the verge of being deported will initiate an 18-day tour beginning in Mexico and ending in the U.S. to focus on the plight of hundreds of deported U.S. Veterans. Their 18-day tour will be documented by several independent film production companies, according to a press release from the Valenzuela brothers.
The Valenzuela brothers will visit a city in Mexico and five U.S. cities that includes, Los Angeles and San Diego in California; Eloy, Arizona; El Paso, Texas and Hobbs, New Mexico before returning to Colorado Springs.
They will first visit the U.S. Deported Veterans Support House located in El Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico and will meet with two deported Veterans, Hector Barajas and Fabian Rebolledo, who established the first safehouse in Mexico that serves as a model support group for displaced and deported Veterans. The deported Veterans safehouse receives no government funding from the Mexican government or the U.S. and is solely operated by donations from the public at large.
The Valenzuelas who have become advocates for deported Veterans had faced the threat of deportation themselves for misdemeanor crimes, but were granted a stay in the U.S., until their immigration case gets resolved. Their deportation case has been stalled and no further proceedings are scheduled for the Valenzuelas.
The Valenzuelas were born in Mexico to a U.S. Citizen mother from New Mexico. Their father was a Mexican national, but later legalized and became a U.S. Citizen. By birth right to a U.S. Citizen in another country, their children born in foreign country become automatically U.S. Citizens, according to federal law.
Since then, they have learned of hundreds of Veterans facing deportation or who have been deported regardless of their contributions and honorable service in the armed forces protecting the freedom of Americans and the U.S. Constitution.
Only upon death, a deported Veteran can return to the U.S. to be buried and the government provides a plot and a marker.
In 2011, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures confirmed that at least 3,000 War Veterans were in process of being deported to their native countries.
On October 13, 2012, a group of U.S. Deported Veterans led by Army Veteran Hector Barajas opened the first U.S. Deported Veterans Support House (Safehouse) in El Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico to help other deported Veterans from the U.S. ajust to being dislocated and facing removal trauma caused by DHS and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when separating families.
The Valenzuela brothers and Point Man Ministry will host an appreciation dinner at the Crawford House on January 17, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Colorado Springs before the tour begins.
Contact Banishedveteran@yahoo.com for more information about the safehouse. The Valenzuela brothers could be contacted at brothersvalenzuela@gmail.com for more information about the banished Veterans.
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