As threat of deportation looms, a family fights to bring their patriarch home

Oscar “Alex” Medrano Lopez isn't home for the holidays.

Instead of spending Christmas with his family of six, Medrano Lopez spent the day in an immigrant detention center in El Paso, nearly 300 miles away.

The family said on Dec. 18, Medrano Lopez, who has lived in the United States for more than two decades, was at a Lowe's home improvement store in Albuquerque buying supplies for a plumbing job when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him. 

Gilbert Medrano Lopez, 24, got choked up when talking about his father, describing him as the family's "backbone" and his “hero.”

“It seems like he's trying to remain in good spirits, too,” Gilbert Medrano Lopez said. “But it just kind of breaks my heart because it sounds like he's mainly putting up a front, like he's trying to protect us without making us worry about him.”

Oscar Medrano Lopez, who has no criminal history in online court records, is one of tens of thousands of immigrants arrested by ICE agents since President Donald Trump began his crackdown on immigration anew in January. 

Between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, ICE arrested more than 113,000 people — detaining an average of 37,700 people a day — and deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries, according to The Associated Press. The deportation numbers marked the highest annual tally in a decade, when Barack Obama was president.

Since Trump took office, immigration arrests have increased twelvefold in New Mexico, according to statistics compiled by the Deportation Data Project and obtained via public records request. 

The state has become a battleground between federal authorities' enforcement and some municipalities trying to establish themselves as a sanctuaries for immigrants.

ICE officials could not be reached Wednesday. Members of the Republican Party of New Mexico also could not be reached.

In Oscar Medrano Lopez's case, his family said he's sought citizenship for 24 years, ever since he legally came to the United States from Mexico on a visa to join his sister, who is a naturalized citizen.

“It's, supposedly, been in the works and he's been in line to actually fix it since all the way in 2001,” Gilbert Medrano Lopez said.

Despite the “stigma” about immigrants taking advantage of Americans, Gilbert Medrano Lopez said his father has worked diligently as a plumber for years, provided for his family of six and paid his taxes on time.

Oscar Medrano Lopez is not alone, in 2023 immigrants in New Mexico contributed $1.9 billion in taxes, according to data from the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

He ‘just disappeared’

Gilbert Medrano Lopez first knew his father had been picked up by ICE when in the middle of the workday his father's cellphone location pinged in far Southeast Albuquerque near the Isleta Amphitheater, where ICE has a detainment facility. Before his family could intervene, Oscar Medrano Lopez was in Estancia, where his cellphone location was turned off.

“His location just disappeared.” Gilbert Medrano Lopez said.

A day later, the family received a call from El Paso from their father, who said that he’d been detained at the Lowe’s on 12th and Interstate 40, where he was picking up materials for work. He is now in danger of being deported and separated from the rest of his family, who are all U.S. citizens.

As one of the elder sons, Gilbert Medrano Lopez and his father often talked about what to do if he was ever detained or deported.

“He's been well aware of the situation with our country right now,” Gilbert Medrano Lopez said. “And it’s obviously an active fear in his mind at all times.”

The entire family, including the four siblings, who are 17, 18, 24 and 27, are now working tirelessly to afford an attorney and bring their father home by picking up extra shifts at their jobs.

But, the extra money has not been enough to stay ahead of the bills that he usually paid as the primary breadwinner. To pay their father’s bail and legal fees will cost at least $17,000, Gilbert Medrano Lopez said.

The family has since turned to the community and posted a GoFundMe asking for donations. As of Saturday evening, the GoFundMe had raised $8,527 from 156 people.

Watching donations and kind words flow in has been “bittersweet,” Gilbert Medrano Lopez said.

“I think that it just speaks volumes," he said, "just to show how his whole community is kind of gathering around for him."

The family is optimistic that they’ll save their father from being deported out of a country he has called home for decades. They celebrated the holiday on Christmas Eve, like many Hispanic or immigrant families, but the house was a little bit emptier.

"You could feel the absence," Gilbert Medrano Lopez said.

He said the family was able to have a short call and "a little bit of a moment" with Oscar Medrano Lopez before the call — made from the detention center — dropped abruptly. Gilbert Medrano Lopez said now they await the next hearing for their father, not sure what comes next.

 Gillian Barkhurst is the local government reporter for the Journal. She can be reached at gbarkhurst@abqjournal.com or on Twitter @G_Barkhurst