To: Andrew Strait, Alfie Owens, Atlanta ICE, Vincent Picard, New Orleans ICE, Brian Acuna, Mike Reid, ERO, and Glenda Rabon

Tell ICE: Free South Carolina Dad!

I write to call on ICE to stop the deportation of Gabriel Godinez Martinez (A# 071-881-574) currently detained at Tensas Parish Detention Center in Waterproof, Louisiana.

Gabriel Godinez Martinez is a loving father and husband who first came to the US in 1992 in search of a better life. Mr. Godinez is a dedicated construction worker and attends church at Global Revival Center in Greenville, South Carolina.

On October 17th, 2014, Mr. Godinez was riding on the back seat of a car with 3 other co workers on his way to another work site when officers who refused to identify themselves pulled them over. Without providing reason, the unidentified officers took Mr. Godinez into their car. ICE has kept him in custody since that day, jeopardizing the financial and emotional well-being of his five US citizen children.

In a letter of support for Mr. Godinez written by his children’s school principal, Michael B. Delaney of Carolina High School and Academy, he writes: “It is my understanding that he is doing everything he can to provide a good life for his family and that without his support the family will indeed struggle. Having the family unit together can mean the difference between children being a success or a failure.. I ask you to please consider carefully all of the effects that your decision will have on, not only Mr. Godinez, but his whole family unit.”

Our communities cannot thrive when our children are forced in an environment that threatens their development. I join Principal Delaney to call on ICE to keep the Godinez Family together by exercising favorable prosecutorial discretion to release Gabriel Godinez Martinez (A# 071-881-574) and immediately stop his deportation.

Why is this important?

Gabriel faces imminent deportation!