HEARTBREAKING

Texas DACA Recipient Dies Rescuing Flood Victims

The 31-year-old immigrant died when his boat capsized during rescue operations.

The body of a volunteer rescuer in Houston who went missing last week while trying to save flood victims was recovered on Sunday. Alonso Guillen, a 31-year-old disc jockey and recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, is thought to have drowned after a boat he and his friends were using for rescue operations capsized last Wednesday. Family members pulled his body from a creek on Sunday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle reports. His father, Jesus Guillen, said he had asked his son not to go out during the storm but his son insisted on helping people. Guillen was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and moved to Lufkin in his teens. Family members said he was allowed to remain in the U.S. thanks to DACA, which prevents the deportation of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. under the age of 16. Guillen’s death comes as President Trump reportedly prepares to end the DACA program. Guillen’s mother, Rita Ruiz de Guillen, said from her home in Mexico that she hoped U.S. authorities would allow her in the country to bury her son, but she was previously turned back at the border.