Betsy is a member of Families For Freedom. Here is an excerpt of her story published on their website.

“The Acquista family is forced to make a terrible choice – lose their husband and father Sal from their lives, or leave behind their lives and loved ones in the United States in order to remain together with Sal when he is deported. Betsy, Sal’s wife of twenty years, has decided to keep the family intact. So when Sal is deported, she will have to uproot their three citizen children who were born and raised in New York, and separate them from their many relatives and friends, to move them to Italy, a country they have never seen.

Charles (17 years old), James (14), and Emily (12) Acquista have spent their lives in New York, and have never been outside of the United States. Their father Sal has not left the United States since coming to New York from Italy at age 9, nearly 40 years ago. The children have grown up in the Acquistas’ family home on a quiet street in Queens, attending local schools and participating in sports and other activities in the neighborhood. The Acquista children have enjoyed the company and support of Sal’s large extended family in New York. Their father Sal was very involved in their lives, teaching them sports, coaching their little league teams, and spending time with them at home. He also provided for them financially, as co-owner of a communications company that he helped build into a successful small business. Despite being a hard-working family man, Sal made one serious mistake – he was arrested and pled guilty to a marijuana distribution charge, and was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. This arrest was the only contact Sal ever had with the criminal justice system.”

Update: Sal has been deported to Italy. Betsy and her children remain in the US and have to travel to Italy to visit him.