How the Deportation System Takes Its Toll on Families
The situation poses challenges most of us never could have predicted
Joanna Garcia Salazar is wrapping up a hectic workday at a middle school in San Leandro, California, a suburban town on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. Her work desk is adorned with folk art by Bay Area artists, family photos, and artwork by her husband, Javier Salazar, who is currently living in Tijuana, Mexico. There is also a family portrait taken when her husband was incarcerated. Her daughter, Juliana Garcia Uribe, works at the school part time while also completing her third year in college at a nearby university.
Javier Salazar had been serving a 12-year prison sentence for an armed robbery committed in Reno, Nevada, of which he completed 11 years, serving the last four under the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Conservation Camp Program. The state’s program has roughly 3,700 inmates working at fire camps across 27 counties.
Upon his release in 2014, Salazar was deported to Mexico, a country he left as a baby when his family immigrated to Oakland, California. Ironically, he boarded the plane to Tijuana at the Oakland International Airport, the city he had called home up until his incarceration. According to the San Jose Mercury News, between 2010…
