Local woman granted another year of lawful residence
GOLETA, Calif. – Local woman Juana Flores successfully received an extension of one year on her humanitarian parole on Sep. 15, 2023.
Flores, also locally known as "the Goleta Grandmother", has been a fixture of local and national interest since her 2019 deportation that separated her from her home of more than 30 years, her husband Andres, her ten children (including one son who is disabled and another who is an active duty service member in the United States Air Force), and her 19 grandchildren.
For the next two years after her deportation, Flores lived in Aguascalientes, Mexico while awaiting a chance to return to her home and family.
In 2021, the day finally arrived when Flores could return thanks to the efforts of retired Judge Frank J. Ochoa, local Congressman Salud Carbajal, and many others in the local community to secure a humanitarian parole grant.
She was greeted with a surprise party at Oak Park in Santa Barbara featured below.
Humanitarian parole is only a temporary fix based on urgent humanitarian need or significant public benefit and crucially, must be regularly renewed.
In light of that tenuous status, Congressman Carbajal reintroduced the Protect Patriot Parents Act, a bill that would make immediate family members of military service members eligible for Lawful Permanent Resident status, a designation that authorizes non-citizens to live permanently in the United States.
The Congressman was joined by none other than Flores herself as well as some of her family members including her granddaughter Andrea Flores who had this to say at a press conference outside of the U. S. Capitol building, "{T}here are many people in her situation that haven't committed anything wrong and still being deported and taken out of this country when we have family members that are serving and sacrificing for this country."
U.S. Representative Carbajal had this to say, “As a veteran and immigrant myself, I find it unconscionable that someone could step up to voluntarily serve in the military and be willing to sacrifice their life for our country only to have their family torn apart. The Protect Patriot Parents Act will help shape an immigration system that is fair, keeps families together, and recognizes the positive contributions immigrants and their families make to our communities.”
Flores' legal team has also submitted a Petition for a Presidential Pardon of her 1988 unlawful entry into the United States.
Without the passage of Congressman Carbajal's bill or an administrative action at the highest levels of our government, Flores' status remains subject to annual review.
Her story is not an isolated one.
Congressman Carbajal's Office relays that the number of immediate family members potentially eligible under bills extending permanent eligibility status number up to 80,000 people in the United States.
Those estimates are only for immediate family members of active-duty military personnel.
"I believe we haven't done any bad. We have worked. We have not done a single crime," said Juana Flores. "We have our family. We came here to do good and work and to do good for this country."
