Separated By The Government: Cherish & Rogelio’s Story

Photo of Rogelio Avalos (left) and Cherish Valencia (right) taken from GoFundMe.

Cherish Valencia and her husband, Rogelio Avalos, have been married for nine months. Cherish has lived in Portland for six years and Rogelio is originally from Michican, Mexico. The two met through mutual friends and got along instantly. Two years into their friendship, Rogelio asked Cherish for her hand in marriage on the Halloween of 2017. Five days after Rogelio proposed to Cherish, the two got married. Cherish has four children from a previous marriage, all of which love Rogelio. Due to Cherish’s health complications, Rogelio is the sole provider for the family of six. 

 The couple were at the Portland courthouse to take care of a violation Rogelio received for driving with a suspended license on Tuesday, July 10. While they were sitting inside of the courthouse, Cherish noticed a woman with a San Francisco 49ers jacket sitting right next to them. “I thought it was weird, she was kind of following us, but people go in and out of the court room all the time, so I decided to just blow it off,” said Cherish.

After leaving the courthouse, Cherish and Rogelio both noticed a car with low blue blinking lights following them. Cherish wasn’t sure if it was a police officer alerting her to pull her over, since the car was unmarked. After continuing to be followed down the road, Cherish decided to pull over. A woman wearing a 49ers jacket emerged from the car, the same one they encountered at the courthouse. This time she pulled out her ICE badge.

The ICE officer proceeded to demand that Rogelio get out of the car without having a warrant issued. Cherish was promised that her husband would be released later that night after she brought his I-130 documents, which would verify Rogelio’s permanent residency in the US. After a call with an attorney, Cherish told her husband to get out of the car. Once Rogelio stepped out of the car, four ICE officers pushed him up against the truck and arrested him.

 “He’s never done anything to deserve what they did to him,” said Cherish. 

Once Rogelio was taken into ICE custody, Cherish rushed home to retrieve her husbands I-130 documents. Once she arrived back to the ICE facility, she was told that the case manager handling Rogelio’s case had left for the day and that Rogelio was to be shipped off to a facility in Tacoma, Washington. “They did everything in their power to make sure they didn’t get that documentation,” said Cherish. 

Since the incident, Cherish has been going through health complications. She has experienced six seizures since the detainment of her husband. Before the incident, it had been over two months since she last experienced a seizure. She also suffers with vein issues in her leg. Her doctor is concerned that the swelling will become so bad that it would set Cherish off in a heart attack. 

Rogelio has a bond hearing tomorrow on Tuesday, July 17, in Tacoma, Washington at 10 a.m. “If he does not get bond, they will be deporting him,” said Cherish. According to Rogelio’s attorney, there is a 50/50 chance of the bond hearing resulting in Rogelio’s deportation.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with Rogelio’s bail.

https://www.gofundme.com/rojelio-avalos

Updated: (7/31/18)

Although Rogelio Avalos was released on bail following his hearing on July 17, his family's fight for his permanent legal residency in the US continues. His attorney alerted both Rogelio and Cherish that they would receive a letter from a judge stating that Rogelio would need to appear in court again, which could result in his deportation to Mexico. "I thought this thing was over with," said Cherish. 

Since being released on bond, Rogelio has been under a lot of stress, according to his wife. Her husband recently lost two family members in Mexico. Due to his circumstances, Rogelio will not be able to attend either funerals for his brother or nephew. 

As Rogelio is waiting to hear from a judge, his attorney is working on scheduling an interview at the US Embassy in Juarez, Mexico in order for Rogelio to plead his case and gain permanent residency in the United States. According to Cherish, her husbands attorney is fighting to have that interview scheduled at the same time as his next court hearing.

This is a developing story.