Tag: Gangs

  
Via Bossip– Ruben Zamora, a Mexican man who lived in the U.S. since he was 8 years-old, left the country last summer and has yet to return because of a tattoo he got in his teens. 

The American Consulate said he has gang tattoos — and, therefore, was part of a criminal enterprise according to The NY Daily News. 

Zamora, who has an American wife and 2 children thought he was doing the right thing by going to Mexico and applying for a visa but his plan backfired.
Here is what Zamora’s wife, Vanessa Ruiz had to say to The NY Daily News:

Ruiz said her husband was being condemned because of a youthful mistake.

Zamora got the tattoos when he was a teen living in Queens — and the symbols weren’t gang-related back then.

“He and his friends . . . thought that tattoo looked cool and they got it,” said Carr.

The group later got involved in gang activity, but Zamora was no longer hanging with them, the lawyer said.

“The fact is there’s no flexibility to actually look at his record and say, ‘Look, there’s been no arrests in the United States for him being in gangs,” she said. “There’s no flexibility in the law.”

For Ruiz, the thought of life without her husband is devastating — financially and emotionally.

“He was very responsible. He used to pay all the bills . . . I (am) so frustrated because I had to pay all these bills. I was going to lose my apartment. I had to go to welfare to see if they could help in some way,” said Ruiz, who works part-time in the call center at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.