Ella Macaraeg Gutierrez, in a phone interview yesterday, said she just wanted to be with her father.
“We don’t know about his situation now. We are so worried. What will happen to him?” asked Gutierrez, the eldest of four siblings.
She said her father left them when she was still in fifth grade. Gutierrez is now 32 years old and married. Her last communication with her father was in March 2006.
Variety learned that Macaraeg separated from his wife many years ago, and she has her own family now.
Macaraeg, 60, a maintenance worker, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he failed to appear at his immigration hearing due to his confusion about his hearing date.
He was scheduled to be deported on Nov. 7 but his lawyer Mun Su Park filed an emergency motion to reopen proceedings and rescind the in-absentia order of removal and a motion for automatic stay of removal/deportation.
Rene Reyes, Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs Ltd, or MAHAL, founding president, said he already sought the assistance of the consulate general’s office.
He said he talked with Dyan Kristine B. Miranda, consular assistant and legal officer last month, asking her to look into the case of Macaraeg.
As of yesterday, Reyes said he had yet to hear from the consulate.
Reyes said he also asked the consulate if it was aware of the looming deportation of Macaraeg.
“They didn’t know about it when I asked them,” he said.
Reyes told Variety there were more than 80 nonresidents from different ethnicities facing deportation three months ago.
The number has increased now, he said, adding that most of them are Filipinos, and among them are the 628 workers issued a conditional umbrella permit by the CNMI Office of the Attorney General.
“We have workers from Tinian and Rota who already received a schedule for their immigration hearing,” Reyes added.
Assistance
In a separate interview, Consul General Medardo Macaraig said there is already a lawyer handling the case of Macaraeg.
But he said they do not know who is paying for these legal services.
He said Reyes did seek assistance from his office, but “it’s not clear what kind of assistance he is asking.”
He admitted that his office should have replied to Reyes’s request. “It’s our fault that we didn’t,” Macaraig added.
But he said their office has not received any request for assistance from Macaraeg himself.
Concerning the request of Gutierrez, he said it is up to her father whether he wants to return to the Philippines.
Variety was told that Macaraeg still wants to stay on Saipan especially now that he has a prospective employer.
Reyes regularly visits Macaraeg who remains detained at the Department of Corrections.
Macaraeg has already received medication for legs that were swelling due to arthritis, Reyes added.
He said Macaraeg was “very despondent and talked about wanting to end his life.”
Reyes said he also communicates with Gutierrez through text messages.
In one of her text messages, the daughter said: “We miss our father so much. Please help him go home. We want to spend our time with him for the rest of his life.”
Reyes said his group is trying to help Macaraeg “so he can go home with a clean record.”
Reyes said they are also asking President Benigno Aquino III to extend any assistance to Macaraeg and to the “thousands of Filipino workers who are facing problems with their immigration status.”
Reyes added, “Our government should not only attend to the problems of Filipinos in other countries. They should also look into the crisis Filipino workers are facing in the CNMI.”
