An East Boston man who pleaded guilty to killing the person who sexually abused him as a child is fighting to remain in the country he has called home for most of his life.
An East Boston man who killed the man who sexually assaulted him as a child faces deportation after his release from prison.
Marco Tulio Flores, originally from El Salvador, came to the United States when he was 6 years old. At the age of 17, he killed Jaime Galdámez, a close friend of the family he says assaulted him from the age of 9 until he was 14 or 15.
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Before killing him, Flores discovered a photograph of his nephew in Galdámez's apartment.
Flores completed a 13-year prison sentence on Dec. 30. He thought he would finally be reunited with his family, but he was taken to another detention center — the Department of Corrections in Strafford, New Hampshire — where he awaits deportation to El Salvador.
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While he had Temporary Protected Status, he learned that he was set to be deported.
Flores told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra he is heartbroken he would be separated again from his family because of a case in which he was a child victim.
Miryam Cissero, an immigration lawyer, said the fact that he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter made him deportable.
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"Basically, he ended up in jail because he'd thrown himself in, because we trusted the system," said Mirna Flores, Marco's sister.
She is calling for immigration officials to give her brother a chance.
"It has been very difficult knowing that my brother was sexually abused as a child, and now he may be deported to El Salvador, a place that he doesn't know because he came here when he was 6 years old," Mirna Flores said.
Marco Flores' mother, Clelian Díaz, believes her son saved other children who Galdámez intended to victimize.
The family and attorneys are awaiting a hearing date in immigration court in New Hampshire.
From prison, Flores said that if he is released and stays in the United States, he wants to start a crusade in schools and cities to teach children to ask for help in situations of sexual violence.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
