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The DACA recipient missed expulsion on the San Isidro highway and is about to be deported after accidentally crossing the border to Mexico, his lawyer said weeks before his American citizen wife was expected to be born.
The lawyers allege that customs and border security officials asked him for bribery to return to the United States, where she said she filed a complaint with the FBI, in the hopes that he could be protected from deportation if he was asked to cooperate with a potential investigation.
CBP has not responded to multiple requests for comment on this case or to any allegations of corruption.
Eric Hernandez was brought to the United States from El Salvador 20 years ago when he was 14, his family said. His parents currently hold legal status in the United States. His wife, Nancy Rivera, said he began the process of acquiring legal status after getting married last fall. His family and his lawyer said he had no criminal history.
Rivera said she met when she had two young girls during the pandemic and was at school, but didn’t know how to drive. A friend introduces her to Hernandez and tells her that he can ride her class.
“He was always there for us,” Rivera said. “He’s always been like a family dad, so that’s what I love about him.”
“It all changed with him,” she added.
The two welcome their daughter and look forward to their son in August. Hernandez’s parents said he works with his father in air conditioning and as a Rady Share driver, as a ride-share driver, to make extra money. The whole family lives in East Los Angeles.
On June 1, Hernandez had both ridden from Los Angeles to the San Isidro border, his family and lawyers said. He declared that he missed the exit on the highway and accidentally crossed the border.
“And when it happened he basically lost everything,” said his lawyer Valerie Sigamani.
“He doesn’t have DACA anymore. Back in his US, he said, “This was a mistake. It was an accident. I wasn’t about to leave the US,” Shigamani said.
Shigamani claims that American officials at the border asked him to pay for the return.
“One of the officials told him, ‘Well, if you pay 800 US dollars, we’ll forgive everything and we’ll put you in the US with no issues,” Shigamani said. She said Hernandez thought it was a legal process but he didn’t have any cash.
Shigamani said he was placed on quick removal. It states that this is essentially a rapid-tracked deportation process, which is bound and not eligible for bonds. He has since been held at the Otaymesa Detention Center.
“He has a lot of hope. He feels something good is coming. He is a man of faith,” Shigamani said. “But at the same time, he is saddened about the whole situation. He is afraid to return to El Salvador. He doesn’t know the country. He hasn’t been there since he was a child, so I don’t know what it would be like to live in El Salvador.”
Hernandez’s parents said in Spanish that he was the loving father they rely on to look after his young siblings. They called the situation a “nightmare” and said that El Salvador had been corrupted and dangerous so they fled. They said they didn’t understand how this happened here and were afraid of what would happen to him if he was deported.
“I’m just worried, like how he manages everything on his own, if he gets deported,” Rivera said. “That’s a lot of the stress, anxiety I have.”
Rivera said she is the only one who cares for her children and is still working full-time in her third trimester, worried about her loss of income.
“He was my main support, right?” she said. “It just felt like everything had changed.”
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