A notable coffee farmer in Hawaii was granted an extension on his deportation after being defended by a federal judge, NBC News reported.
Andres Magana Ortiz had boarded his plane to Washington Thursday to turn himself in to immigration authorities to honor a removal order. But in a last-minute turn, federal officials granted him 30 more days in the country.
Officials argued that Magana Ortiz "successfully (built) a life and family in this country" and that deporting him would rip him apart from his three children, all U.S. citizens, as well as his wife.
Magana Ortiz, now 43, came to America at 15 from Mexico. He became a coffee farmer and even gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture free access to his farm to study crop pests.
