CNN Plays Emotional Card When Illegal Deported After 30 Years In The U.S.

Cindy Garcia told CNN she has struggled to explain to her two children, ages 15 and 12, what happened to their father.

“It's very hard because he [the 12-year-old] doesn't grasp what the government did and he doesn't understand why they took him either, because he's not a criminal,” she said. “That's why we're trying to justify it with him. And it is very, very hard.”

In November, Jorge Garcia, who was too old to qualify for protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was ordered to return to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after receiving extensions of his removal since 2009 under the Obama administration.

“It was this year, Nov. 20 was our annual visit with them,” Cindy Garcia told CNN. “We went and they told us they were going to detain him. Our faces turned white. We panicked. We didn't know what to do.”