PLANT CITY, Fla. (WFLA) – As Louis Blanco of Plant City turned himself in to federal officials on Tuesday, more than a dozen people came to protest his expected deportation back to Mexico.

“Louis and immigrants like him, they harvest the food that we eat. They build the homes that we live in. They care for our elderly,” said Mark Rodriguez with the Hillsborough Protection Coalition.

Blanco’s family tearfully told reporters how the deportation is tearing apart their family.

The story has hit a nerve with people throughout the Tampa Bay area and many are not sympathetic to Blanco’s problems.

Norma Reno is a Tampa attorney who has been recognized as Hispanic Woman of the Year. She immigrated to the United States 36 years ago legally from Venezuela and believes everyone should go through the same process.

“There are laws that you have to abide by, so if you don’t do what is proper, don’t expect the government to do anything for you. This is the way I think,” said Reno, who is also a strong supporter of President Trump’s views on immigration.

“They don’t care how they come. They come legal, illegal, they don’t care but they come and it’s getting worse by the day and we don’t see a way out for this and so it was time for the president to take control and save our country,” said Reno.

Anibal David Cabrera is the third generation of his family to be in the United States. His grandparents came to this country legally and he believes people don’t accept their own consequences.

“Those individuals that came here illegally or that are coming here legally have to pay thousands of dollars to get their paperwork done correctly, hire lawyers, make sure they go to their meetings and then one day will become a citizen and doing it the right way, but they have to wait years sometimes,” said Cabrera.

He understands the emotions involved, but feels that all people should follow the right path to citizenship.

“Just because they see their loved ones having to go through such a tedious process and to have someone just walk over a border and don’t get me wrong, it’s difficult to be here one way or another and everyone wants to be in the states, but we are a country of law and there has to be some order to this,” said Cabrera.

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