Upstate shocker
Pair in U.S. for 20 yrs. free after July 4 nab
A Mexican husband and wife who were arrested at an upstate Army base on the Fourth of July while visiting their pregnant daughter said their 19-day detention took an unnecessary emotional toll.
Concepción and Margarito Silva, who have lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years without authorization, were released Monday night after Brooklyn family members paid a $20,000 bond.
They are now awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge.
The couple joined their relieved relatives Thursday at a Brooklyn church, where they thanked supporters and questioned the government.
“I don’t feel very good that this experience has happened to us,” Concepción, 49, told reporters at the St. Rose of Lima Church in Midwood, more than three weeks after being arrested at Fort Drum. “This has changed us, and things are not going to be the same anymore.
“We have been here for a really long time,” she said about her stay in America. “I’m thankful for everything this country has given me. But what happened to us is something that was very tragic to us, and it’s something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over in a really long time.
“I just want everybody to know we’re humans. We’re people who are loved by this community.”
Concepcion said she spent the entire time without medication she had been taking daily.
Concepción and Margarito Silva, 59, presented New York City ID cards during their Fort Drum visit. When guards asked for a different form of ID, they presented Mexican passports. Military police summoned Customs and Border Patrol agents, who detained the couple. They were held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Batavia, N.Y.
“I was heartbroken,” said their daughter, Perla, 26. “I was shocked. This is our country … I know what happened and I knew this was not right. I didn’t lose hope because I knew what was said and what was done to my parents was not right. I never lost the hope. I know they’re going to stay with us.”
Perla, who said her parents never had any trouble with the law, said the ordeal was unsettling.
“It was the first time in my life I feared,” Perla said. “I’ve never even been intimidated by a cop. I will call the police in any situation. I feel safe. That was the first time I felt very scared.”
Perla and her family launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for the bond.
Her parents got home at 4 a.m. Tuesday, but were up early the next morning to join organizers from Make the Road New York for an immigration protest.
“They chose to stand up and join a protest to stand for the families for every single child and parents that was going through the same thing that they went through,” Perla said.
But the cops at the protest made her father nervous, she said.
“I’ve never seen him like that,” Perla said. “He’s different. He fortunately is home with us right now, but it’s not the same.”