Queens Cabbie's Family Makes Last-Ditch Call To Halt Deportation

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Immigration authorities could send Edisson Barros back to Ecuador on Friday, but that didn't stop his daughters from making a last-ditch plea to keep him at home. They were among more than 40 activists who rallied outside City Hall Friday to demand a federal immigration judge halt the Queens taxi driver's deportation.

"We need the judge to stop his deportation and to give him back to our family," said Eileen Barros, Edisson's younger daughter.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Barros, of Maspeth, after a dispute with a disgruntled driver landed him in court on July 16, his supporters said.

Supporters believe Barros has been denied proper medical care in New Jersey's Hudson County Correctional Facility, where he has since been detained, and say the treatment he received there was tantamount to torture.

Two court motions to stay Barros' deportation and reopen his case are still pending, according to City Councilman Francisco Moya's office.

"Let Edisson have his day in court," said Moya (D-Queens). "Let Edisson be with his family while we go through the process. That's what we're asking for."

Immigration Judge Mirlande Tadal wants to review Barros' old immigration case file, but there's been a delay in getting the records to the court, said family spokesman Carlos Jesus Calzadilla-Palacio.

Barros first came to the U.S. in 1994 then was blocked from returning after traveling to Ecuador for a family emergency in 2003, Calzadilla-Palacio has said.

According to ICE, Barros re-entered the country illegally after immigration authorities removed him from the U.S. under a judge's order in February 2003.

Despite his lack of legal status, Barros has built a life and family in New York that his deporation could tear apart, his supporters argue. He's worked as a New York City taxi driver for more than two decades and his daughters, Eileen and Paola, depend on him financially, supporters say.

"He's earned the right to be in this country," Ronald Alfredo Bautista, an immigrant-rights activist from New Jersey, said at Friday's rally. "He's been here 20 years, he's paid his taxes, and he didn't commit anything wrong except for protecting his dog."

While her father's future is uncertain, Paola Barros isn't giving up. She said she "sent him my positive vibe" when she spoke to him Friday morning. She and Eileen both called for immigration reform to stop more families from being separated.

"This is a battle that we're not going to fight only one day," Paola Barros said. "This is an injustice that is going on in the United States."

An ICE spokeswoman declined to comment on the rally. The agency has said it provides medical care to detainees and "takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care."

(Lead image: Eileen Barros, left, appears at a Friday rally outside City Hall supporting her father, Edisson Barros. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)