News Roundup: UCI Law Clinic Helps Deported Army Veteran Return to U.S.

U.S. Army veteran Spc. Fabian Rebolledo returned home to California Sept. 19, 2018, having won a three-year legal fight following his deportation to Mexico in 2010. The University of California, Irvine School of Law's Immigrant Rights Clinic (IRC) represented Rebolledo in his immigration case. Prof. Annie Lai, IRC Co-Director; Cpt. Juan Carlos Mercado, advocate for deported veterans and Rebolledo crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at the San Ysidro port of entry together. Rebolledo and his family participated in a press gathering that day in Azusa, Calif. (View the photo album).

 

Rebolledo was recruited into military as a young man. He served at Fort Bragg and in 1999 was deployed to Kosovo, where he worked as a peacekeeper to retrieve bodies of Kosovan villagers who had been killed by Serbian forces. After returning to California, Rebolledo had a son and devoted himself to rebuilding his life. The trajectory of his life, however, was altered in 2010 when he was deported to Mexico. He was separated from his son and parents, as well as the country he served.

 

When Rebolledo first arrived in Mexico, he was forced to sleep on the streets and in shelters until he found housing with another deported veteran. Through his roommate, Rebolledo eventually found solidarity in a group of deported veterans. He helped to create a mural project at Friendship Park in Tijuana to raise awareness about deported veterans and became an advocate for fellow veterans.

 

Rebolledo found UCI Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, which helped him re-open his immigration case after he received relief under California's Proposition 47. In August, an Immigration Court agreed that Rebolledo’s re-opened case should be terminated and that his lawful permanent resident status restored.

 

While Rebolledo is grateful to be returning home, he and his colleagues are committed to continuing to advocate for the return of all deported veterans who remain exiled abroad as a result of our country’s harsh immigration laws. Their stories are highlighted in an ACLU report Discharged, then Discarded.

UCI Law graduates Andani Alcantara Diaz (’17) and Danielle Nygren (’18) worked on his case, which was supervised by Lai.