The Board of Immigration Appeal has denied an emergency stay on a deportation order for a New Fairfield man.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also denied a stay for Joel Colindres and he must leave the country for Guatemala today. 

His wife Samantha, a Connecticut native, said in a written statement that she is devastated, broken, and angry.  The couple has two young children. 

Colindres still has a pending motion, that if approved it could bring him back.  At the minimum he will be away from his family for 8 months.  That is why the family says they are not seeking sanctuary in a church. Disobeying this order could make him a criminal fugitive and impair his path to citizenship down the road.

Colindres came to the U.S. illegally from Guatemala 13 years ago.  He married New Fairfield native Samantha a decade ago and they've been fighting with paperwork errors since then.  Joel  missed a court date in 2004 in Texas because he never received the notice.  ICE had his address wrong and both his first and last names were spelled wrong.