San Antonio family to spend Christmas with father in detention

In what advocates say is an unusual move, U.S. authorities are planning to deport an immigrant family living in San Antonio, even though several members are eligible for the president’s controversial deferred action program.

Saman and Namali Randeniya are originally from Sri Lanka and their teenage children were born in Italy. The family has been in the U.S. for a decade, but earlier this month immigration officials detained Saman Randeniya and told the family they need to buy plane tickets back to Italy.

Because the Randeniyas came here before June 2007 and before their children — who are enrolled in school — turned 16, their two teenage sons and one daughter likely are eligible for deferred action. However, they never applied for the program, which would have given the children two-year work permits.

Saman Randeniya had claimed asylum for his family, saying he couldn’t stay in Italy or return to Sri Lanka because he was targeted by a terrorist organization that has ties to the mafia. In 2011, the family moved to San Antonio. Saman was most recently working as a driver for ride-hailing services, and Namali works as a teacher’s assistant.

The Randeniyas’ asylum application was denied, as was their appeal and their request for a stay of removal. Mohammad Abdollahi, an activist working for San Antonio-based Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, said this is the first time since shortly after President Obama announced his deferred action initiative in 2012 that he’s seen removal orders for immigrants eligible for the program.

For the Randeniyas, it means likely spending Christmas without their father.

Speaking over the phone from the immigration detention center in Pearsall, Saman Randeniya said he broke a promise to his 14-year-old daughter Nethmi.

“We don’t have a Christmas tree. I promised her we can go and buy the Christmas tree,” he said. “She came here, she’s crying about that, she’s sad about that.”

The family came to Staten Island, New York, from Italy on visas in 2005 and requested asylum, according to an affidavit Saman Randeniya submitted to immigration officials as part of his asylum request.

Randeniya said he and his wife moved to Italy in the 1980s looking for work. There he interacted with members of the Tamil ethnic community. The Randeniyas are not Tamil.

In 2003, according to the affidavit, he agreed to carry tens of thousands of Euros to Sri Lanka for a Tamil friend, but the money was seized by the army there.

Randeniya wrote that he later learned his friend had connections to a Tamil terrorist group in Sri Lanka and to organized crime in Italy, so he was forced to flee to the U.S. Now, he says, he’s afraid to go back to either country. He said he missed saying goodbye to ailing family members in recent years because of his fear of going back to Sri Lanka.

“They know I’m in detention right now,” Randeniya said of the terrorist organization. “They know my information. They’re waiting for me.”

Savindra Randeniya, an 18-year-old who said he’s registered to attend Northwest Vista College in the spring, said he never pursued Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, because it would mean separation from his parents.

“If that were to happen I would be able to stay, but my family would leave, and I can’t let go of my family because they’re all I have,” he said.

Abdollahi said the family doesn’t fall under the priorities for deportation set by the Department of Homeland Security. Along with the children being eligible for deferred action, the family has strong ties to the community in San Antonio, he said. To illustrate that, Abdollahi organized a rally Monday night at St. Brigid Catholic Church, where the family goes to services. About 100 people showed up to support the family.

A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Gerardo Menchaca, a San Antonio immigration lawyer who’s not involved in the Randeniyas’ case, said he’s seen ICE grant prosecutorial discretion, putting a deportation case on hold to use resources for higher-priority targets, for families with education and long-standing ties to the community. The fact that Savindra Randeniya is enrolled in college is particularly noteworthy, Menchaca said.

“When you separate parents from their children, regardless of the age, I think there’s often a consequence to pay,” he said “Given that the kids are DACA eligible and they entered legally and they speak English and they’re educated and they’re involved in the community, I would say that is exactly the type of (person) we want in America.”

The irony is, he said, if the Randeniyas had simply disappeared upon entering the country rather than apply for asylum, they likely wouldn’t have ended up in deportation proceedings.

“Assuming they wouldn’t have been caught, they probably never would have been (deported), because they’re low priority,” Menchaca said.