Help Keep John Head with His Family

John Head, a beloved father, brother, uncle and son is being unjustly torn from the life and family he built over four decades in the United States. John came to America with his mother and father in 1982 as a two year old child. He was a legal immigrant and a permanent resident, growing up in Edmond, Oklahoma, attending public schools, and calling this country his only home. He has no memory of Brazil — a country he left as a toddler, whose language he does not speak, and where he has no family.

At the age of 23, my father John made a mistake, and was arrested for a DUI. John served 2 1/2 years in prison, and once released, was detained by ICE and incarcerated for another 22 months, even though he had completely rehabilitated himself, and paid his time according to the U.S judicial system. Because of this, his permanent resident status was revoked, and began the long and heartbreaking journey that haunts John and his family to this day.

Once released from prison and the confinements of ICE in 2008, John instantaneously changed around his life. My father became sober for the first time, a vicious addiction that once plagued our family. Now, sober for over 12 years of his life, this was the start of the greatest recovery process and blessing our family could ever experience… something that we got to overcome as a unit.

Throughout all of this, my dad has been happily married to my mother, Ana Head, and father to both me (Aliana Head) and Johvan head (15). My father has been the perfect example of what it means to not only change your story- but to completely re-write it.

My father has attended his immigration check-in, every week to every year since 2008- without fail. He has always strived to do the right thing, not even receiving so much as a speeding ticket for the last 20 years. On June 12, 2025, my father attended his routine immigration check in and was detained by ICE, and is now in the process of being sent back to Brazil, a country that he has not been back to since he was 2 years old, does not know the language, has no family and will be sent with nothing but the clothes on his back… leaving over 44 years of life behind him, his children, friends, family and his wife.

My dad had served his time for a crime he committed over 20 years ago, and has been following him and his family ever since. My father has been a present and loving father, great husband, upstanding citizen, tax-paying resident, and above all… a follower of Christ.

Not only is this heartbreaking to witness, to experience and to fathom… it will be even harder to rebuild from. John Head didn’t just make a life here, he created something much bigger- that not only he can be proud of, but something he can leave his family with. Now, this is all being taken away. As this is all going on- my mother, Ana Head is undergoing surgery, leaving her in the hospital for over a month- isolated, overwhelmed, and without the man who has always been her strength.

My father has never been one to ask for sympathy or handouts and has been deeply ashamed of our situation for a very long time. We now understand that we are at our wits-end. I are writing this all to say, we need all the help in order to keep John Head in the USA. We are needing help to keep our family together, and to advocate for him in the same way he has for anyone else that has needed it. As we continue to pursue legal help, the cost of fighting this is becoming extremely hard on our family, especially with my mother being in the hospital.

If you are able to help, our family is asking for your help. Whether it's legal advocacy, community support, or a financial contribution, anything you can do to help keep John Head here, with his family, would mean the world to us.

He gave this country his life. Please help us fight to keep it from being taken away.