Grandfather detained by ICE while walking his dog; Family says, “he’s followed the rules.”
The family of Baldomero Noa-Castaneda holds up a portrait of the 67-year-old father of five while talking about his decades in Colorado and his arrest by ICE early June.
By Gabriela Vidal
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DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — More families in the Denver metro area are coming forward with their stories, as their loved ones remain detained by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That includes the family of a Cuban man who’s been in the U.S. for almost half a century, having established a life and a family in Littleton.
“We want our story to be heard. We want our grandfather to come home,” Aliyah Marquez said.
Marquez is the granddaughter of 67-year-old Baldomero Noa-Castaneda. The father of five arrived in the U.S. in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift, a mass emigration of 125,000 Cubans during Fidel Castro’s rule.
“He’s been here 47 years. He met my grandmother in 1938,” said Marquez. “He’s a good man. He’s followed the rules.”
By now, Noa-Castaneda has spent more of his life in Colorado than he has in Cuba.
“He came here and he built a good life for himself,” said Marquez. “He married a good woman and they have children together. He worked his whole life being here. He owns his own home.”
However, that didn’t matter the morning of June 8, when ICE agents took Noa-Castaneda into custody while he was walking his dogs outside his Littleton home.
“He went out and my grandmother says she just heard pounding on the door, like big loud pounding,” said Marquez. “She opened it and they said, ‘we’re taking your husband.'”
His grandchildren say Noa-Castaneda did receive a deportation order when he entered the U.S., but they say a judge dismissed that case in the 1990s. His lawyer at the time told Noa-Castaneda he would not be at risk of deportation in the future.
“All his lawyer had told him is he would be fine [and] to not worry about a citizenship to just work with a work permit here,” said Alexis Castorena, one of Noa-Castaneda’s other grandchildren.
Noa-Castaneda does have two charges that were closed for shoplifting in 1995 and public consumption of alcohol in 1999, but his family says that shouldn’t reflect all of his 47 years building a life here.
“I feel like we were misinformed and I feel like we weren’t- and we’re not getting the help that we need right now,” said Marquez.
On Friday, Marquez and the rest of the family discovered Noa-Castaneda was not only removed from the ICE facility in Aurora, but that he was also taken to El Paso, Texas, where he could eventually be deported.
“I went back to ICE like five times throughout that day and demanding answers,” said Marquez. “About 10:30 at night [on Friday], I finally look on the detainee locator, and it said he was in El Paso, Texas.”
CBS News Colorado reached out to ICE for comment. A spokesperson said they need up to two days to answer the requests for comment on this case.
Meanwhile, Noa-Castaneda’s grandchildren remain determined to get help and bring their grandfather home.
“This is reality, for not only us, but for many people,” said Marquez. “It takes a toll on us and it’s hurtful.”
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