[su_carousel source=”media: 36522,36523,36524,36525,36526,36521″ limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” target=”blank” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″][su_carousel limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” target=”blank” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″] [/su_carousel]

Hugo Mejía—the North Bay construction worker who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while on the job earlier this year and held for more than six months—was finally reunited with his family on Nov. 21.

Just days before the holidays, Mejía was released from a detention center in Elk Grove, CA by Judge Valerie Burch on a $15,000 bond.

According to a press release from Centro Legal de la Raza, which is representing Mejía, “a courtroom packed with supporters” were in attendance when the judge ordered his release.

After being detained by ICE for more than six months, Hugo Mejia is reunited with his family on Nov. 21. Mejia, an undocumented immigrant who lives in San Rafael, was detained in May while going to work. Courtesy: David Buenrostro

“I felt whole again, and my family was happy to have him home again,” said Mejía’s wife, Yadira Munguia. “We were able to have a wonderful Thanksgiving.”

Mejía and Munguia are both from the town of Tuxpan, Jalisco, Mexico and have been married 18 years, 16 of them in the United States. Prior to Mejía being detained, he and his wife lived a quiet life in San Rafael with their three children, but all of that changed on May 3, 2017.

Mejía and Rodrigo Nuñez, his co-worker at S&R Drywall of South San Francisco, were heading to work on a hospital located at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, CA. When identification checks alerted military officials that Mejía and Nuñez were undocumented, they were arrested and detained by ICE.

“That day he called me, it was shocking. My first reaction was, ‘What happened?’” Munguia told El Tecolote in June. “He told me. I asked him if he could leave. He said no … He said they took his license, his registration.”

ICE had issued a statement that two workers who were detained in the Travis Air Force Base as “foreign nationals attempting to gain entry to the military base. It emphasized that Mejía had illegally re-entered the United States after being deported in 2001 while attempting to cross the U.S. border.

“They don’t deserve to be in this situation, and all for going to work. They weren’t doing anything wrong,” Munguia said.

Although Nuñez has been deported, Mejía’s case is still pending and there is no timeline as to when his case will be resolved.

“We know that he has another meeting, but we don’t know when a decision will be made under the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, it could be in the next month or in the following years,” said David Buenrostro of the California Immigration Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA).

Buenrostro was there the night Mejia was released, and was able to capture the emotional moment that Mejia was reunited into the open arms of his family members.

“I took the pictures because I wanted to show others that there is hope,” Buenrostro said.

News of Mejia’s detention reached many concerns community groups, both in San Rafael and nationally. One of those groups was CIYJA.

“When I first met them [the CIYJA activists] and I spoke with them about my husband, I told them that I was surprised to see young people involved, because it’s difficult to get young people involved in things like this,” Munguia said. “I told them that I liked that.”

In addition to CIYJA and Centro Legal de la Raza, a coordinated effort by other groups including International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), IUPAT District Council 16, California Immigrant Policy Center, SF Labor Council and Labor Center for Immigrant Justice helped raise awareness of Mejía’s case and advocate for his release.

“The judge emphasized that the widespread community support was a major reason she ruled in Hugo’s favor,” the Mill Valley Community Action Network wrote on its webpage.

On Sep. 20, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) issued a press release where he introduced a private bill, that if signed, would end all deportation proceedings against Mejia and, “would make Mejía eligible to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States, enabling him to apply for a ‘green card’ and stay reunited with his family without fear of a future deportation.”

As of now, Mejía will continue to fight his deportation case with the support of his legal team and community as they follow his case with the hashtag #FreeHugo. Mejía will also meet with and offer thanks to supporters on Friday, Dec. 15 with the help of Jessica Marker, director of Partnerships at Venetia Valley School.

“This is an important moment in time to celebrate the long months, work, and engagement that Hugo, his family, and community have put in to have him back home,” Marker said. “We’re using that as a moment of light during these very dark political times.