Culver City Palatero was given a green card after the ice arrest

Nearly four months frozen in time while working his usual routine, the Culver City Palatero is back at home — and with a green card on the way.

In June, ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano was arrested by masked federal agents while selling paletas, or frozen fruit, outside the church. Amazing photo of his abandoned Ice Cream Cart Cart went viral on social mediacatalyzing a public effort to bring him home.

Lozano, who lives in South La and put the Palatero cart at the local address for more than 20 years, was one of the thousands of unregistered counselors held this summer in deportations by the Trump Administration. Snow storms have been claimed in southern California once widespread protest was renewed the policies of the State Government.

After 114 days in custody, Lozano on Wednesday was granted a green card by applying 245(i) petitions, which depend A lesser known provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) That allows certain current residents to apply for permanent residency within the US

Two days later, Lozano met his family at his sister’s home in South Gate, his niece Kimberly told The Times on Saturday.

Walking through the door, Lozano was greeted by “Welcome home!” Balloons and a Tre Heches cake for a birthday he spent tied up. Noriega cooked him a feast of Carne Asada, Costillas and “a whole big old bag of tortillas” – the first thing he said to her after his release.

“Even when it’s difficult, we never lost faith, and we always trusted God,” said Noriega. “I feel like this is a small victory in something big.”

Lozano was selling his paletas in front of the Iglesia Bautista libre pousheeción in Culver City on the afternoon of June 23 when he was picked up by Ice Agents and driven to an undisclosed location.

“He told them, ‘Why are you guys crying? I’m just doing my job,'” Noriega said. Lozano had no criminal record, and his clients loved him. But the agents did not depend.

Lozano was allowed to immediately call his wife and explain the situation, but after 40 seconds or so on the phone, her phone went dead, Noriega said. His family could not get much information about his whereabouts for some days.

Later Noriega learned that his uncle had tried to send his uncle messages when he arrived at the detention center, but there was no reception. After that the ice pickers took his phone.

With the help of social integration to protect yourself and donations From the public, Noriega and his family were able to obtain legal representation for Lozano. Later, more than 150 people, many of whom had bought Paletas in Lozano over the years, wrote letters of support to help the court.

Noriega said Lozano’s lawyer, Ebony Espinoza, always believed he would get his green card. But Noriega could never be sure, and that uncertainty haunted him.

“There was so much pressure,” Noriega said. “My aunt was crying and my mom was just losing her cahoots trying to do everything.”

Things took a turn for the worse when Lozano’s wife Anita struggled to answer questions during the court hearing and feared she had hurt her husband’s chances when he was extradited.

Fortunately for Lozano’s family, the judge was patient with them, even allowing them a break for two hours to get photos proving his marriage to Anita.

“My aunt took the pictures off her wall because we couldn’t find her wedding album,” Noriega said. “He took really big shots, you know, like those 20 out of 20, and we just kept going with those.”

The Court resumed for a few minutes, long enough for the opposing counsel to withdraw the complaint, and the judge told Loziya, “Welcome to the United States.”

Lozano clapped his hands in front of his face, as if praying, in gratitude.

“God gave him the strength to go on one more day,” Noriega said.

After his release, Lozano was shocked to find out how far his story had gotten, Noriega said. He told his uncle that he now has a strong message to share with other prisoners.

He told him: “You can tell them to stay strong. “If it happens to you, it can happen to others.”