The story of Jorge Garcia made news after the husband and father of two was deported to Mexico after spending over two decades in the United States. Garcia was 10-years-old when he came to the U.S. and was 39 when he was deported, making him one-year too young to be qualified under DACA. As the story went viral, one rapper turned tech-entrepreneur reached out to the family to lend his help to Garcia’s family in his absence.
Chamillionaire reached out to journalist Niraj Warikoo who reported the story for the Detroit Free Press via e-mail. “I’m reaching out to find out if you could possibly connect me with his family?” Chamillionaire stated in the e-mail. “I’m looking to talk to them to see how I can help with financial support in Jorge’s absence.”
Niraj Warikoo tweeted a screenshot of the message from Chamillionaire and captioned the photo:
Chamillionaire Responds to Criticism Over His Support of Immigrants
Garcia, who was made his to the U.S when he was 10, made several attempts to change his legal status throughout the years but was unsuccessful. Despite being under many of the requirements of DACA, the Obama-era program which gives protection from deportation to young undocumented immigrants brought into the United States by their parents, Garcia at 39, was a year older than the maximum required age to enter the program. As for Chamillionaire, the Houston rapper turned silicon valley entrepreneur took to Instagram to respond to criticism on social media calling into question his desire to help a Mexican man.
“A lot of people are hitting me saying, ‘i’m proud of you for wanting to help an immigrant family in their time of need,’ He said. “But I a lot of people are hitting saying, ‘I don’t understand why a Black man would want to help Mexicans’ and nonsense like, ‘They don’t do nothing for us. Black people need to help Black people.’”
He continued, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’m from Texas. Texas. I know a lot of y’all have been led to believe the toxic narrative that Mexicans are doing this and Mexicans are doing that, like they aren’t valuable contributors to our economy and our society. Alternative facts.”