In the weeks since federal immigration officials detained and deported a mom and her kids from Soldotna, community members have come together at least three times to show their support for the family.
A crowd of about 50 people clustered near the amphitheater at Soldotna Creek Park on Sunday at sunset. The group shivered in the single-digit temperatures and sang as their light sources – electric candles, phone flashlights, headlamps – bobbed with the melody.
“We are here tonight to deal with our own emotions, but also help the family deal with theirs, right?” Rev. Karen Martin Tichenor said from the stage. “For Alex and Sonia and the boys, to know that we love them, we care about them, they matter, and we want justice for them. We are in this for the long haul, and to know that they are not alone.”
Tichenor was talking about Alex Sanchez-Ramos and Sonia Espinoza Arriaga. The couple married in Kenai in early February. A few weeks later, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained and deported Arriaga and her two minor children. Her oldest son, who’s 18, was sent to ICE’s Tacoma, Washington, detention center and, as of Monday, was still there.
Sanchez-Ramos, who is a U.S. citizen born in Seward, told KDLL that Arriaga received a deportation order after missing an immigration hearing in January. He says Arriaga and her three sons came to the United States several years ago seeking asylum from cartel violence and domestic abuse in Mexico. After missing the hearing, Sanchez-Ramos says he and Arriaga contacted a lawyer to ensure they filed the correct paperwork to rectify the error and do what they needed to prevent Arriaga’s deportation.
During Sunday’s vigil, Sanchez-Ramos told attendees he and Arriaga are both grateful for the support – financial and otherwise. He says their legal fees have been paid for, and that all additional money raised is going to help Arriaga and her two youngest sons start over in Mexico.
“This gave me a reminder of how much I love small towns, and this community especially,” he said.
The vigil came a little over a week after a community meeting hosted by Christ Lutheran Church and mirrors similar events held in Anchorage.
Last week, a group of about 20 Soldotna High School students also rallied for the family. They walked out of school and into subzero temperatures to protest ICE operations and the deportation of their classmate – Arriaga’s 16-year-old middle son is a freshman at Soldotna High School.
Normally, Keira Albright would have been in U.S. History class. But the high school junior said the walkout is more important. KDLL received parental consent before interviewing students under the age of 18.
“I believe that ICE is wrong and the levels they’re taking to deport people aren’t right,” Albright said.
Soldotna High School Principal Tabitha Blades said the students who participated in the walkout are receiving an unexcused absence for the classes they missed, and that the consequence was communicated to students in advance. The walkout will ding Albright and the others’ school attendance records, but they said they weren’t deterred.
Sophomore Savannah Prieto said it’s about perspective.
“It’s one (unexcused) absence against someone who’s not allowed to go to the school anymore because they got deported to a totally different place,” she said.
Though the walkout and the vigil were organized independently, both groups expressed support for better treatment of immigrants in the United States.
Back at the vigil, speaker Susan Smalley helped close it out with what she called a “prayer for the government.”
“Each person standing here with a light source is also a source of hope and love and compassion connected together to focus a spotlight on the darkness that ICE creates whenever they show up,” she said.
A lawyer representing Arriaga and her children is actively challenging their detention in federal court. There’s no timeline for what awaits her oldest son at ICE’s Tacoma detention center.
