Family pleads for help

There is no Plan B for a Willard man who faces deportation and separation from his American family as early as next week."I want to do what I'm being told," Jesus Lara Lopez told the Register on Monday. "I'm just asking for help. I'm asking government officials to touch their own hearts and find a way to help me stay here with my family." Immigration officials told him earlier this year to be on a plane headed out of the United States by July 18, one week from today. His flight is booked for very early that morning, he said. Lara Lopez and his family have pleaded with U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs to help. They met with members of Gibbs staff, but not the congressman himself. The family has also sought help from Ohio's two U.S. senators, Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and Republican Rob Portman."No, we haven't gotten any word back from anyone," Lara Lopez said, through an interpreter, Lynn Tramonte. "I just want to keep hoping. I really don't want to leave my family. It really hurts me they want to send me away from them." Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-OhioGibbs was not available for comment about whether he intended to help the family. His communications director, Dallas Gerber, said members of Gibbs' staff had met with family members and might "possibly" seek to help, but he went no further than that. "We cannot comment," Gerber said. When asked why he could not respond, Gerber stated it was office policy. "We just do not comment on casework we may or may not be working," Gerber told the Register.When asked if he thought the deportation of Lopez Lara would happen, Gerber replied, "That's not my call."Tramonte, the interpreter, is deputy director for the advocacy group America's Voice. She said the congressman's staff members have listened to the family's pleas, but she was unsure whether any of them would take action. "It makes no sense to send somebody out of the country who wants to pay taxes, is paying taxes, owns a home, is paying his mortgage, works his job, and takes care of his kids during the day," Tramonte said. "We want the congressman to be a champion for this family, to use his power, use his connections in the Republican party, to urge immigration officials to leave this family be."Lara Lopez fulfilled every requirement the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency asked of him since his status as a undocumented resident was discovered after a traffic stop in 2008. He was placed under an order of supervision with a work permit, requiring him to check in with the immigration agency annually.President Trump's full enforcement order to ICE, to round up all undocumented residents is impacting thousands of families.He's always followed every order immigration officials gave him, and he will get on that plane next Tuesday as ordered, if he doesn't win a reprieve. But it will be the hardest thing he's ever had to do, he said, to leave his family. Lara Lopez and his wife Anahi have three sons, Eric, 14, Edwin, 11, Anuar, 9, and a daughter, Elsiy, 6, all born here, schooled here and raised here. "My wife, she's not going to be able to pay all the expenses. I'm pleading for help so I can stay with my family."Lara Lopez first came to Willard as a migrant farm worker and moved here in 2001. Migrant farm workers have been key to the local agricultural labor pool for years. The extreme work conditions dissuade local people from taking field jobs. Lara Lopez works now at the Spherion, a food factory in Willard. Sen. Brown said his staff has met with Lara Lopez's family and reached out to ICE officials after the meeting."Tearing apart families who are working and paying taxes is not the way to fix our broken immigration system," Brown said. Brown supports the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate in 2013, to increase border security and create a path to citizenship for those willing to work for it.There was no immediate response late Monday from Sen. Portman to a request for comment.Both senators were sent a series of questions about Lara Lopez's pending deportation and whether they would intercede, and whether they support the stepped-up enforcement efforts under the Trump administration.*This article has been modified to correct the context of Dallas Gerber's response to a question. Jesus Lara, a Willard man who faces possible deportation later this month under President Trump's stepped up immigration enforcement, with his wife Anahi, and their American-born children, from left to right, sons Eric, 14, Edwin, 11, Anuar, 9, and daughter Elsy, 6.