KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Blue Line in Kansas City, Missouri, held a homecoming for one of its owners on Tuesday.
Letty Stegall and her husband Steve Stegall have spent four of their nine year marriage separated by the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This is somebody you’ve been married to for 9.5 years, you know, to have it back is just amazing," Steve Stegall said.
Letty returned to the U.S. on Saturday, after being deported in Feb. 2018.
She was arrested and deported to Mexico as part of a local sting targeting illegal immigrants with criminal histories.
Letty was lumped into the effort due to her misdemeanor for driving under the influence several years ago.
“There were moments when I was going through a lot of depression and anxiety and sometimes, I was feeling like I just can’t handle anymore, because it was breaking my heart everyday," Letty Stegall said.
While Letty married Steve, a United States citizen, she still had to go through the U.S. citizenship process because she initially came to the U.S. illegally.
The process was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now finalized as she received her resident visa last week.
“We went through four years with a lot of tears, pain, excitement and happiness but we were like, 'Okay, we’re ready, you’re going back last year,'" Letty Steggal said. "And then something happens and it didn’t happen, and it was like everyday was different, like he said, the system is just broken."
Letty missed her daughters high school graduation among many other moments with her family, but despite all of that, she told KSHB 41 News she is focused on the future with her family.
“I honestly feel complete right now because it was very hard," Letty Stegall said.
