Father freed after girl talks to Pope about immigration
Published:Monday | March 31, 2014 | 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP):
After a 10-year-old California girl travelled to the Vatican to plead with Pope Francis for help as her father faced deportation, the man was released Friday on bond from immigration detention.
Mario Vargas was freed from a detention facility in Louisiana after he posted $5,000 bond. A relative who saw the girl on television pleading with the Pope during a public audience helped with the funding, said his wife, Lola Vargas.
"When she left, her wish was that her father would be home," she told The Associated Press in Spanish. "Thank God she is going to get her wish."
Mario Vargas' release came after his daughter Jersey, of Panorama City, California, addressed the Pope this week as part of a California delegation that travelled to urge the Vatican to prod President Barack Obama on immigration reform. The girl and a teenager went as part of the 16-member group to represent the American children of immigrant parents who are afraid their families will be divided by deportation. The president and the pontiff met for the first time last Thursday.