Union member Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco with his godsons. (submitted photo)
The Trump administration’s chaotic, violent surge of immigration-enforcement activity in Minnesota this winter has upended thousands of lives, Gerardo Orozco Guzman’s among them.
But Guzman, 27, had a rare opportunity to bear witness to that devastation when President Trump delivered his State of the Union address Feb. 24, as one of four guests – all impacted by Operation Metro Surge – invited to attend the speech with Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Guzman’s father, Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, was abducted on his way to work Jan. 9, and he remained in federal detention at press time. Verdusco is an organizer with the worker center CTUL, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha, and a member of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild.
For Guzman, attending the State of the Union was an opportunity to bring “light and awareness” to what’s happening both to his family and to his community.
“It is extremely unfair that my dad was taken by the government,” he said. “It’s unfair that our family is having to go through this. It’s unfair that my Minnesota community is having to go through this still.”
Guzman’s father, known to friends and family as “Paco,” has made a career of helping vulnerable workers fight back against abuses in the construction industry.
CTUL is a resource center for workers who experience wage theft, misclassification and labor trafficking, and the organization has a track record of recovering unpaid wages and helping deliver cases to authorities for investigation.
Guzman has built a career as an advocate, too. A legal assistant and mediator for the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, he was named an “Unsung Legal Hero” by Minnesota Lawyer magazine last year.
Guzman, his mother, his sister and his extended family have been scrambling to pursue every legal option possible to get Paco home since his arrest. Lawyers immediately filed a habeas corpus petition for his release, but it was denied by a judge.
After spending weeks in the notoriously dangerous Camp East Montana detention facility, Paco was transferred to a facility in New Mexico, a move that came with greater access to phone calls, Guzman said.
But the family’s concern grows with each day Paco is detained.
“He calls to check in on us and tell us he’s OK, but with every call he does sound more dejected,” Guzman said. “He recognized, I think, that people who he’s met in detention have been there way longer – eight or nine months, if not longer. As time goes on the tone of his voice is not the same, and noticing that change, it’s heartbreaking to say the least.”
Guzman said the family has settled on a multi-pronged legal approach to get Paco home, but costs are adding up. The family launched an online fundraiser, and 6,000 people have signed onto a petition for Paco’s release.
“You want to have faith in the laws and procedures, and at first my dad was hopeful that he would be released, as he should have been,” Guzman said. “We’ve gotten so much support from more people than I know, but if we can get a little more support, get the right kind of support…
“I’ll talk to anyone and everyone. I just want my dad back with us.”
Union Advocate 
Leave a comment