Veteran Luis Fonseca, a Nicaraguan immigrant deported 24 years ago, returned to California on Monday with a humanitarian permit to continue his case alongside relatives.
Fonseca, 65, served in the 193rd artillery battalion, stationed in the Panama Canal Zone.
"Since I was a child, I always wanted to be a soldier," Fonseca said. "So when I came to the United States, I had the opportunity to serve my country with honor."
He spoke to Chula Vista Today, just a moment before crossing into California through the San Ysidro port of entry.
On the other side of the port of entry, in San Diego, his children, two women, a man, and his four grandchildren waited for him. He met his grandchildren for the first time this Monday.
Fonseca was deported in 1998 and returned to live in his native Nicaragua for two years.
"I didn't feel safe there," he said, "because I was an American soldier" in a country that had made a revolution, and was still during the Cold War, in which the Soviets helped arm Nicaragua.
So, he decided to find other deported veterans and live with them in Tijuana, where he lived for almost 22 years.
He explained that he feels that the United States is his country, "that is why I was willing to give my life," he said, and declared with a hint of tears that what he regrets the most "is not having seen my grandchildren grow up.".
Héctor López, the deputy director of the Unified Resource Center for Deported Veterans of the United States, said he is glad Fonseca can return to his family.
"In the last few months, three of our comrades have returned to the United States but after death, which is when they allow their families to take them," he said.
Ramón Castro, councilor of the governing council of Brawley, was the one who picked up Fonseca in Tijuana to accompany him through the port of entry to hand him over to relatives.
Castro said he felt happy "for the policies that have allowed veterans like Luis Fonseca to return with humanitarian permission."
The councilor said that now Fonseca will enjoy the medical attention and benefits that the Veterans Administration already offers him.
