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BIG LAKE, Skagit County — Inside a cardboard box are 25 years of tax stubs, Social Security information and manilla folders marked with phone numbers and a script for what to say when checking in with an immigration officer.
The box contains a quarter-century of Juan Gerardo Alatorre Martinez’s life spent in the U.S., where he’s lived since he was 19. The now-46-year-old has been waiting for more than two decades to get a green card proving permanent resident status.
The shuffle of bureaucracy didn’t move fast enough for Martinez, who is originally from Mexico. He was detained in July by Immigration and Customs Enforcement before work at a gas station in Conway, south of Mount Vernon. Nationwide, immigration agents executed more detainments during June and July than the previous five months of 2026.
Residents across Skagit County are raising money for Martinez’s legal fight ahead of an Oct. 8 immigration hearing, when Martinez and his lawyer, Lisa Seifert, hope his petition for a green card will be granted. So far, the GoFundMe has raised $12,083 of a $13,000 goal.
“The community needs to understand that somebody like Juan — who everybody likes and is a good g...