Viviana Hervis, U.S citizen, mother of three U.S. citizen children, and wife to Christian Hervis, shared her story with Univision as she continues to fight to keep her family together.
Earlier this week, we introduced you to Christian Hervis, who is in detention and set to be deported any day now. Despite Christian’s I-130 approval (which puts him in the queue to apply for a green card), ICE agents are preparing to tear him away from his American family.
During her interview with Univision, Viviana shared how her children, are 2, 5 and 7, are processing their father’s absence:
“Since they took Christian, my youngest son refuses to eat. It’s been a big production to get him to eat anything, and so that he wouldn’t keep wondering where his father was. Now — he doesn’t even ask about his dad, and I am scared that he will forget about his father.
My second son, who is five years old, Jayden – he is taking it a lot harder. He is just always angry.”
Additionally, Viviana talks about the incident that set off Christian’s deportation. Back in 2010, Christian was charged with a DUI, which resulted in no property damage or personal injury of any kind, and yet, despite having paid all the fines gone through all the necessary courses, this mistake has come back to haunt him in 2015:
“My husband had a DUI in 2010. It is something that he regrets every day, and is ashamed of what he did back then… I just want to let young people out there know that that they should think about the consequences their actions could have. My husband is currently paying for something he did 5 years ago.”
A petition effort has been launched to help stop Christian’s deportation. Hundreds of signatures from across the country have been gathered, and Viviana continues to ask her community for help — as she fights to try and keep her family together:
“Every time I go to the supermarket, or wherever I go, I try to place these flyers to let people know about the petition.”
When DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson created new deportation guidelines in 2014, his agents were supposed to consider the whole person–positive and negative–before making a final deportation decision. Instead, as we’ve seen with many other cases, ICE is treating that memo like a deportation checklist, looking for any reason to deport someone and ignoring the factors that argue for a reprieve.
Because of this, Christian could be removed from the country any day now, and permanently separated from his loving family.
Watch Viviana share her story in her own words. Despite the long hours at her job, and a debilitating medical condition, Viviana will continue to fight for her husband.
Help us bring Christian back home to his family by signing this petition, or making a call to ICE.
Dial 202-282-8203. When you are connected you can say the following:
“Hi. My name is _____ and I’m calling to ask that Christian Hervis-Vazquez (A-087-958-524) is not deported. Christian is a valuable asset to his community in Nevada, he has 3 U.S. citizen children, and has volunteered his time as foreman to help those in need. There are clear factors in Christian’s case indicating that he is not a threat to national security, border security, or public safety, and should not therefore be an enforcement priority. I am asking that Christian be granted a stay of removal, and be allowed to stay with his family here in the U.S.
