Family gets deportation notice

DREAM Act spokeswoman Marie Gonzalez and her family announced last Wednesday at a news conference in the capitol rotunda in Jefferson City that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had sent them an official notice for deportation.

Marie Gonzalez pleaded for supporters to continue contacting state representatives and asking them to sponsor a private bill that would grant the Gonzalezes citizenship. Representatives Bill Deeken and Mark Bruns both attended the press conference in support of the Gonzalezes.

“I’m putting my heart out there,” Marie Gonzalez said. “It’s very hard for me to put what we're going through into words. If we were granted a private bill, it’d freeze everything, and we'd be able to stay. We need people's support now, more than ever.”

According to the official notice, the family has until June 5 to return to Costa Rica.

“We feared the arrival of this date, but we knew it had to happen before anything else can happen,” said Ed Stroesser, a member of The Gonzalez Group. Stroesser said he had been told by "folks in authority” that they could intervene only when a deportation notice had been filed. “The last couple months have been such a limbo, but now there is a deadline. So we'll see what types of action will take place.”

— Alex Rampy