The Wrongful Imprisonment of Jose Luis Garcia More than a week after the arrest of her father Jose (who is a green card holder), Natalie Garcia tries to console her daughter Marley outside their home in Arleta, California from which Jose was taken. He had been watering his lawn and preparing for a shift driving for Uber, one of his three jobs, when ICE officials detained him for deportation for a charge from two decades ago. Since his arrest, Marley has slept in his bed and lays out his clothes each day to pretend that he is there. Before bedtime, Marley lays out her grandfather's clothes to sleep beside during the night. “I put his perfume on sometimes,” Marley explains. “I close my eyes. I cry.” On the night of Marley's kindergarten graduation, Natalie takes a moment to herself. Every day since her father's arrest, Natalie worked to see him freed. As a public relations professional in Los Angeles, she understands the importance of involving the national media and was trying to book time to speak on CNN about her father's situation. Marley runs inside after her kindergarten graduation, which her grandfather missed. She explains that even though Jose is her grandfather, she calls him "Dad." Her biological father is not as active in her life and Jose fills that role, taking her to and from school and spoiling her when he can. Natalie and Marley visit with Rosa and Kati, another mother and daughter who's husband and father is being held in the same detention facility as Jose. Natalie made it her mission to help others in the same situation as she worked continually on her father's behalf. She procured a lawyer for Rosa and drove Rosa and Kati to the Orange County Jail on a visit. Natalie and Marley rest on a bench following an emotional visit with Jose. Marley said that she did not want her grandfather to see her cry, but after the visit she broke down in her mother's arms. "I miss him, mommy. I miss him," she said repeatedly. Natalie reacts to the announcement that her father's case would be dropped by the immigration court. Due to the media attention and public outcry, prosecutors declined to pursue deportation. According to Jose's representation, they were contacted asking for "the case to go away quietly." After 19 days of imprisonment and 12 hours of transportation between facilities, Jose Luis Garcia is released to his family and friends. As one last added insult, ICE agents drove Jose around for hours to avoid the media seeing his release. After changing the release location twice, he was dropped on a street corner alone. Less than a week after his release, Jose plays with his granddaughters at his home in Arleta, California. He said that spending time with family and catching up were his main priorities. Jose watches fireworks from his rooftop on July 4th. For weeks after his imprisonment, he suffered from nightmares and sleepless nights. But he remains positive and says that achieving his full citizenship is his number one priority. “I will continue to do the right things with my family and I will become a U.S. citizen in no time.”
