Detained university janitor, in US 11 years, awaits his fate
BOSTON — Francisco Rodriguez-Guardado’s first son was born just days after he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials for deportation back to his native El Salvador. He has yet to meet his son but is told there’s a resemblance.
“They tell me he has my eyes,” the 43-year-old said with a mix of wistfulness and pride this month in an interview at the Suffolk County House of Corrections.
Rodriguez-Guardado, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology janitor whose case became a rallying cry for local opponents of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown this summer, awaits his fate in the Boston jail.
His supporters say his case and others like it highlight how the Republican administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has swept up not just hardened criminals — the “bad hombres” Trump frequently railed against on the campaign trail — but also otherwise law abiding, contributing members of American society.