Bar manager was deported by ICE. Here's how her supporters hoped to help

Jennifer Uscanga extended her arms up and out so the woman on the other end of the FaceTime video phone call could see the crowd all around her.

"Mom, look," said the 16-year-old with a laugh. "You've got fans."

The sidewalk at the corner of Missouri Avenue and Walnut Street was clogged with more than 100 family members, friends, coworkers and supporters rallying in support of Uscanga's mother, Leticia Stegall, the Mexican-born manager of the Blue Line hockey bar in the River Market. The bar manager was abruptly deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Feb. 26.

Led by her husband, Steve, and Uscanga, hundreds of supporters gathered inside and outside of the Blue Line bar to support the woman affectionately known as "Letty" and described as "the face of the River Market."

"We're here for one reason and one reason only," Steve Stegall said to the crowd standing outside the bar. "To free Letty and bring her back to Kansas City."

Then, Steve Stegall and Uscanga led the crowd — chanting and waving signs of "#RallyForLetty," "Incompetent Corrupt Enforcement," and "Immigration Process: Fix It" — in a march of solidarity throughout the River Market.

"This is overwhelming," Steve Stegall said of the community show of support. "It keeps you going. This shows how much love is out there for Letty. It shows it’s not just us. We all care."

A manager overseeing a Blue Line staff of more than 28 employees, Leticia Stegall is not the first local ICE deportation of a productive member of society to garner headlines.

Earlier this year, Lawrence-based engineer Syed Jamal was apprehended by ICE officials in front of his family and taken into custody in a case that has garnered national attention.

"Letty's the type of immigrant that President Trump claims he wants to keep in this country," says David Whinery, a lawyer working with the family on their case.

Leticia was arrested as part of a four-day enforcement operation in the Kansas City metro area that ICE said targeted people in the country illegally who had prior criminal histories. Steve Stegall, who married Leticia six years ago, admits his wife entered the country illegally 20 years ago. She was arrested for six years ago for driving while intoxicated. The arrest began a lengthy web of legal proceedings with ICE, local and federal courts.

Leticia Stegall had obtained a federal court order that she be held in the Kansas City area pending a hearing and was issued a writ of habeas corpus by U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. Friday, but was deported nonetheless:

"This was a denial of due process," Whinery says. "The order from a federal judge should have been honored."

The perceived slight of justice has left the Stegall family reeling:

On the video conference from a temporary home in Veracruz, Mexico, Leticia Stegall addressed her throng of supporters.

"I really thank you all," she said holding back tears. "Everybody, thank you for supporting me."

She also expressed anger at her treatment by ICE agents:

"They treated me really badly. I wanted to see my daughter, but they didn't care." She continued: "I'm on medication and they didn't want to give that to me."

Leticia Stegall's treatment at the Platte County jail where she was held before being deported angered Uscanga as well:

"For me, there is nothing but anger and frustration," Uscanga said. "We weren't trying to keep my mom here against the law. If we had to, we would have voluntarily sent her to Mexico. We just wanted to say goodbye."

"Muy mal. Muy Triste. Muy Impotente," says Miguel Neria, a longtime family friend of the Stegall family when asked how mother and daughter are holding up. "We feel very bad, very sad, and very powerless."

But seeing the support of the community, he says, is helping the family push forward:

"I came from Cuba 26 years ago," Neria said. "But in this moment I have never loved the people of Kansas City more. I am — we are —proud of the Kansas City people."

This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Bar manager was deported by ICE. Here's how her supporters hoped to help."