HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Amanda Guzman knows something is missing in her home.
For the past six years, she’s been married to Eduardo Guzman, a man who fills up a household’s gaps.
“He is a business owner, he’s a taxpayer, he is a father, he is an amazing partner,” Amanda Guzman told Channel 2’s Michael Doudna.
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However, Eduardo Guzman is also an immigrant in the country illegally. It’s something the Guzmans tried to fix shortly after their wedding.
“I think we went to an attorney’s office two weeks after we got married to start filing paperwork,” Amanda Guzman said.
She says her husband came to the U.S. as a teenager more than 20 years ago. Since then, he built a business and a life in Georgia.
However, on July 9, he was reportedly pulled over for a broken tail light and was arrested for driving without a license.
“He called me immediately as soon as the blue lights started flashing,” Amanda Guzman said.
When Eduardo Guzman was booked into the Henry County Jail, the sheriff’s office notified ICE as required by state law. ICE then required the sheriff’s office to put a 48-hour hold on him.
“We were hopeful that maybe they would just let him go, but five minutes before that 48-hour window closed, they came and picked him up,” Amanda Guzman said.
Eduardo Guzman is one of the more than 3,200 people ICE has arrested since Jan. 20, when the new administration took over.
Amanda says Eduardo had no criminal record.
ICE data collected by the Deportation Data Project found there were roughly 3,295 Georgia arrests between Jan. 20 and June 10, the fourth most of any state.
Of those arrested, the data says 1,353 were convicted criminals, 1,263 had pending criminal charges and 679 had other immigration violations.
The data also showed that the most common apprehension method was taking folks into custody who were already detained in Georgia jails.
“The legislature actually made it a crime to not follow the process,” said Mike Mitchell with the Georgia Sheriffs Association. Georgia law requires sheriffs to notify ICE when someone booked in their jail is here illegally.
“It’s a process that’s mapped out in law,” Mitchell said.
However, the Guzmans are working to see if they can get him released from ICE custody and brought back home.
“We hope that he comes home. We want him to come home. He needs to come home,” Amanda Guzman said.
The family has a GoFundMe. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
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