PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A Beaverton family is grieving after the father, who was detained and deported by ICE, has now died. The family said he was hospitalized shortly after being deported, while they were still fighting to bring him home.“They threw my dad out like an animal, and now I have no dad,” said Eric Martin San Juan.Eric Martin San Juan said that after a long battle to get his father, Paulino Martin San Pedro, back to Beaverton after being detained in November, his father ultimately died. Martin San Pedro was detained in November, deported to Mexico within days, then hospitalized and died of pneumonia shortly thereafter at age 53.“The day my dad was taken, I felt like my dad had died, that’s how extreme it felt, and now that he has died,” said Martin San Juan. “No one deserves this, no one deserves to be tortured, no one deserves to be taken away from their families, not knowing you’ll ever see them again, and then truly never seeing them again.”Martin San Juan said he believes his dad’s condition was triggered by his experience of being detained and then deported to a country he hasn’t lived in for more than 30 years.“I think if we fought it here, he would have had a better chance of being with his family, having me, having his day one support system versus going home to a place you haven’t been in 30 years,” said Martin San Juan. “I thoroughly blame ICE, I blame our government because there is a better way to do all of this besides shipping people away.”He said the immigration crackdown has left his family changed forever, losing the biggest piece of this family’s puzzle.“They left a 20-year-old girl without a father going to school, they left two sons who just wanted to spend time with their dad, my children aren’t going to have a grandpa, my sister doesn’t have anyone to walk her down the aisle,” said Martin San Juan.During Martin San Pedro’s hospitalization in Mexico, the family faced mounting expenses, paying for both medical care and legal fees to fight for his return. Now, they feel like they failed.“I’ve put myself in financial risk, my mother, my brother, and at the end of the day, it still wasn’t good enough,” said Martin San Juan. “These are the things that happen when your father is taken away, your mother, it doesn’t matter who it is, this is the reality.”This week, the family went to Mexico to say their final goodbyes and send him off the way he deserved.“He really built me up to be the best version of myself,” said Martin San Juan.Back in Beaverton, as Martin San Juan looks at photos of his father, he said that, though he may not understand why this happened, he knows his father prepared him to be strong and to lead their family through it.“My dad always, I don’t know how he figured stuff out, but he always figured it out, and I think he left me with that gift, that no matter how hard anything is, I’m going to figure it out,” said Martin San Juan.The family tells me they plan on holding a vigil in honor of Martin San Pedro in the coming weeks and have started a fundraiser to help the family financially recover during this time. To learn more, go here.Copyright 2026 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.