When Tino Salazar believed that everything was lost to the point that he no longer cared if he would lose his life if he was deported to Mexico, he achieved what seemed impossible: an immigration judge allowed him to stay in the United States under the benefit of Protection under the Convention against Torture (CAT).
The most surprising thing is that he did the entire process himself, without the help of a lawyer, while he was in custody at the Adelanto Detention Center.
Yes Although the CAT is more difficult to obtain than asylum and offers fewer benefits, because it does not have a path to residence or allow you to leave California, unless you obtain a permit, it does put a stop to the beneficiary’s deportation and gives him a work permit.
And better still the CAT, helped Tino to get free and start a new life.
Tino’s story begins in Acapulco, Mexico. He came to the United States in 1984. His father, a former bracero, got him permanent residence in the United States when he was 03 years.
“When I arrived I started working in a carpet factory in Los Angeles. Then I went to work in the fields in Bakersfield”.
Upon his return to Los Angeles, his destiny took a turn that took him where he never wanted to go, jail for 24 years.
“In Los Angeles, I started drinking alcohol and using drugs. I didn’t know how to control my anger”.
And it is because he had grown up, he says, in a home where violence was a way of life.
“I grew up watching my dad put powder (cocaine) up his nose and load a gun”.
What is worse, when his father returned to Mexico, he joined the Guerreros Unidos, a criminal group in Mexico.
So in 1996, Tino was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, with a minimum of years.
“What happened was that a stranger broke into my house to steal. I was drunk when he entered, I shot him and took his life”.
His mistake, he admits, was having escaped from his house and not having called the police to turn himself in, and an act that could being self-defense, it became a felony.
“An hour after the events occurred, I called the police and told them what had happened. They asked me to turn myself in, but I was afraid, and I went to Mexico”.
A year later he returned to the United States, and his His mother convinced him to turn himself in to the police.
“I listened to him and turned myself in. I was convicted of second degree murder.”
In prison, he recounts that he regretted his actions and began a rehabilitation process.
“I took programs against drug and alcohol consumption, domestic violence and for anger management”.
His dedication was so great that the psychologists and commissioners of the prison recommended that his sentence be reduced. And even more, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom granted him clemency in 2019 due to the reports received around to his rehabilitation.
“In December of 2021, I left the prison, not being able to believe that he was already a free man”.
He spent a year and a half in a rehabilitation house, to which who leave the state prison as part of their reintegration into society.
“At the end of that period, the first thing I did was call the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) to see if I could recover my residence. They told me I had to see a judge. That if they were going for me, or if I wanted to present myself on my own foot. I told them to come get me.”
Two days later, 4 ICE agents arrived for Tino in the city of Palm Springs where he was living, and took him to Adelanto.
“I decided to give myself up because I had changed and wanted to be a better person. I no longer wanted to run away from my problems but to face them. The immigration agents viewed my decision to cooperate very favorably.”
The 27 July 2021, Tino was confined in Adelanto.
“I spent 7 and a half months in detention. Three times I asked the judge to deport me to Mexico, and he refused. I preferred to expose my life when I returned to Mexico, than to be detained in Adelanto. It’s torture.”
However, at the first hearing, the judge told him that if the psychologists and Governor Newsom had recommended his freedom, it was for something, and that he had to be patient.
“He asked me about my childhood, about my dad and my life in prison. I told him about my dad involved in criminal gangs, how they almost killed him and now he was on the run.”
He also told her how prison changed his life. “Through self-help groups, I learned to manage my anger and emotions. I have not tried alcohol or cocaine again, and I apologized to the family of the man who took his life and told them how sorry I was.”
He said that the judge, upon hearing this narration, asked him if it was possible that he could obtain evidence. “I told him yes.”
Back in custody in Adelanto, a colleague told her about José Topete, an immigrant who was also under arrest, and who now collaborates with the organization Justice for Immigrants of the Inland Empire in San Bernardino.
“It was Topete who told me to speak to the United Nations to to support me with the evidence, and he gave me the phone number”.
Tino called the United Nations phone number, told them about his case and asked them for help to get the evidence.
“In three weeks, I already had a large package with all the evidence, and I took it to the judge. I also wrote a letter with my story, and I filled out all the paperwork they asked me to.”
Tino says that he did all the paperwork because he couldn’t find any organization that would support him with a lawyer. “I didn’t have money to hire one either.”
At the final hearing that lasted 5 hours, the judge offered to let him go free under the payment of a bond,
“I told him I didn’t have money to pay it. He replied that then I should wait 03 days for your final decision”.
And exactly 30 days later, the judge granted him protection under CAT, which allowed to leave Adelanto and stay in the country without risk of deportation.
“When I received the papers with the news, I ran to the bathroom and knelt down to give thanks to God. I promised him never to use drugs again and dedicate myself to helping others as much as I could”.
Tino had to wait 30 more days to recover his freedom and leave the hell that Adelanto represented for him.
“They did not let me out until the prosecutor sent in writing that he would not appeal the judge’s decision to leave me in the country under protection against torture.”
On March 7, Tino set foot outside Adelanto.
“I have returned to live in Palm Spring and I am working for the owner of the McDonalds in that city cleaning and maintaining his business”.
To his 27 years old, he is determined to work hard, but what he wants most is to help other immigrants and the recovery of people with addictions.
“I don’t want to miss out on this second opportunity that God has given me to be a better person.”
Tino thanked José Topete and Lizbeth Abeln, director of Deportation Defense at the Inland organization Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ).