Live Oak family pleads for mother’s return after deportation: ‘No one should be treated like this’

LIVE OAK, Fla. (WCTV) - A heartbroken Live Oak family is desperate for answers after their mom was detained for over a week and sent out of the country alone, leaving her husband, four kids and grandkids behind.

The last time they spoke, Maria Isidro told her kids not to worry, to have faith and that she’d be home with them soon.

Maria Isidro’s daughter, Danielle, said her mom has called Live Oak home for two decades and was detained a little over a week ago. She was sent back to Mexico, where she was born, and now they’re trying to get her back to Florida.

Danielle Isidro said their whole world has been torn apart, and they’re worried about their mom as she is a diabetic and doesn’t have any living relatives in Mexico.

Maria Isidro came to the United States in 1998 for life-saving treatment for her sister. Danielle Isidro said they initially were able to stay for medical reasons, and after that, her mother applied for approval to stay.

“When she realized she was in Mexico the first thing she said was ‘I am here legally here are my papers,’” she said.

According to a document obtained from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an immigration judge entered a removal order in 2004 for Maria Isidro. For years, as they worked to get her citizenship processed, she met with Homeland Security regularly to avoid deportation.

However, everything changed when she received a notice to report back with DHS early. She came in on June 3 and was detained. Her daughter said Maria Isidro was sent from Tallahassee to Orlando, then taken back to Mexico.

“That broke me because I felt like we had done everything necessary to be here and all of that was for nothing,” Danielle Isidro said.

Danielle said that they have been trying to get answers as to what’s next for her mom. Right now, she said Maria is staying with an old friend in Mexico, but they are fighting to get her back home with them.

“We’re trying to get this story out and get her back home to us because she did things the legal way, and she did this the right way. No one should be treated like this,” she said. “Even through these difficult moments she still thought about us and not about herself, she didn’t want us to worry.”

WCTV reached out to the family lawyer Thursday afternoon for information on getting Maria back to the states and if a hearing has been confirmed. We have not heard back yet.

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