BRUNSWICK – It’s about 6:30 on a Tuesday night and business is picking up at Hacienda Pancho Villa.

Heads bob under the kaleidoscope lights of the cantina. Four military servicemen in camouflage fatigues cram into a booth in the dining room. A shiny burgundy Mercedes is parked outside; its owner presumably in the Pleasant Street restaurant, dining on inexpensive Mexican food.

The other side of the restaurant is empty except for three children. They are playing with toys stored in a Rubbermaid box. One of them is 2-year-old Irvin Gonzalez Saldana. His mother, Olga, isn’t here. She’s being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, awaiting a deportation hearing.

Her fate is as uncertain as her son’s. An immigration advocate said it’s a situation that occurs daily in Maine.

On Feb. 17 at 10:16 p.m. Brunswick police stopped 26-year-old Saldana as she drove south on Route 1. According to police reports, she was pulled over for driving erratically. Police don’t believe she’d been drinking, but that she was confused or unfamiliar with the area.

She was operating a Toyota Tacoma registered to Fernando Saldana, the owner of Hacienda Pancho Villa. Olga is Fernando’s niece. She said she’d been staying with him in Brunswick.

There were two other occupants in the car. One was 18-year-old Sergio Israel Carbajal Fermin, a friend of Fernando Saldana’s. He, too, was arrested and is now awaiting a deportation hearing while being held at the Cumberland County Jail.

So is 21-year-old Luis Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who was stopped the night before, Feb. 16, on Route 1 at 10:55 p.m.

He was also driving a vehicle registered to Fernando Saldana. Of the three Mexican nationals being held, Rodriguez is the only one facing a criminal charge, operating without a license.

Olga Saldana had a valid driver’s license from Washington state.

Fermin had a passport.

Rodriquez had nothing.

Police ran all three individuals’ names through the Law Enforcement Support Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database of illegal immigrants. During the two traffic stops each individual was identified as being in violation of immigration laws. Police notified the on-call Immigration and Naturalization Service agent, who then ordered that all three be detained at the county jail.

On Wednesday, Paula Grenier, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement public affairs officer, confirmed that all three now face removal proceedings.

A federal immigration judge will hear their cases. Grenier didn’t know when.

But they could be waiting a long time.

Sue Roche, an attorney for the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Portland, said she receives calls about cases like this on a daily basis.

She said all three might have to wait several weeks to a month before their hearings. In the interim, they are subject to transfers to different holding facilities all over the country, often without notice to their families.

Even if a judge issues a deportation order, they could wait an additional month just to get back to Mexico.

Roche said chances for the Mexicans to post bond are slim, especially in the wake of recent ICE policy changes and a national mandate to crackdown on illegal immigration.

That means detainees must wait – even if they want to return to their home country.

‘We want to go home’

“We don’t want to be here anymore,” Fermin said Wednesday. “We want to go home. We don’t want any more trouble.”

He sat with Olga in a visiting room at the Cumberland County Jail.

Both of them wore standard-issue orange inmate jumpsuits.

Fermin is from Jalisco, Mexico.

He said he came here to work for Fernando Saldana, who previously owned a restaurant in Seattle. Fermin said the two are close, like brothers. He clasped his hands together to demonstrate.

“I just wanted to work, make some money” Fermin said. “Fernando said he could help.”

Olga Saldana remained quiet. Her English isn’t good, so Fermin translated. When asked if they knew how long they were staying, both shook their heads. Asked if they knew they were being held on immigration charges, Fermin said he didn’t.

But Olga recognized the word “immigration.” She repeated it to Fermin. She then turned toward the white cement wall before burying her head in her hands.

Sergio said Fernando Saldana came Tuesday promising to get a lawyer. He said they could leave in a day or two – maybe.

According to Roche, that’s highly unlikely.

“Voluntary deportation is complicated,” she said. “You’re still under the supervision and at the mercy of (ICE). In many cases, a deportation order is better than a voluntary departure.”

‘Maybe it’s nothing personal’

Fernando Saldana, meanwhile, wonders why his restaurant was targeted by police. He said police frequently park across the street at the Shell gas station, sometimes even in his parking lot.

“Maybe it’s nothing personal,” he said. “Maybe they’re just doing their job and it’s part of their rotation. Maybe we’re doing something wrong.”

He added, “Maybe it’s just discrimination. Maybe it’s the color of my skin. I don’t know if it’s how I feel or if that’s how it is.”

He wondered how police could arrest Olga, Fermin and Rodriquez “for no reason.”

Saldana said he loaned his vehicles as a favor.

“I didn’t ask if Luis had a driver’s license,” he said. “I just said he could borrow the car, you know, as a friend.”

He said he did the same for Olga the next night.

Saldana denied the three detainees were his employees. He said they were just friends and family. But at the Cumberland County Jail, Olga and Fermin said they worked at the restaurant.

And Rodriquez?

“I don’t know much about Luis,” Saldana said. “Personally, I like to treat all the people here like family. That’s why I let him borrow the car.”

Police Cmdr. Richard Desjardins said he can’t remember a case like this in the last 10 years. He said police didn’t have access to the ICE database until after 9/11, and there could be further developments in this case.

Grenier, the ICE spokeswoman, wouldn’t discuss whether the restaurant is under investigation.

Saldana, meanwhile, said the events have made him think about selling the business.

“Maybe we’re not welcome here,” he said.

While he spoke, little Irvin scampered into the restaurant’s atrium, chasing Saldana’s 4-year-old son. Irvin, born on American soil and therefore a U.S. citizen, is happy now.

But tonight, who knows?

“At night,” Saldana said, “that’s when he misses his mother.”

Copy the Story Link