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Tennessee woman: US falsely tied immigrant husband to gang

Contributed photo / Daisy Rodriguez, 32, of Sweetwater, Tennessee, says U.S. State Department officials falsely accused her immigrant husband of gang ties. He has not been allowed in the U.S. for more than two years.
Contributed photo / Daisy Rodriguez, 32, of Sweetwater, Tennessee, says U.S. State Department officials falsely accused her immigrant husband of gang ties. He has not been allowed in the U.S. for more than two years. Contributed photo / Daisy Rodriguez, 32, of Sweetwater, Tennessee, says U.S. State Department officials falsely accused her immigrant husband of gang ties. He has not been allowed in the U.S. for more than two years.

By Andrew Schwartz 8 min read

One day around 2011, Daisy Rodriguez recalled, Santos Maudilio Saucedo Rivas walked into a restaurant where she worked in Loudon, Tennessee.

A romance ensued. He moved in, then came their stint out in California for her studies, then their return to Tennessee, working with her mother on a new Sweetwater restaurant venture, Los Zacatecanos, where Saucedo Rivas was always cooking, prepping “or trying to play the role of electrician.”

In what free time they had, Rodriguez said by phone Wednesday, Saucedo Rivas played soccer and together they explored the Smoky Mountains.

She wishes she could show those memories to officials with the U.S. State Department. More than two years ago, officials accused her immigrant husband of being part of a Mexican prison gang, she said, even though he is not Mexican, has never been to prison and has not lived in the areas the gang operates.

Then, she said, federal officials failed — in violation of their own rules — to meaningfully consider overwhelming evidence that the accusations were false.