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One of the hundreds who were homeless in the summer of 2024 in Jamestown that led to a state of emergency being issued by city Mayor Kim Ecklund was starting to find a better life for himself.
Carlos Contreras, who resides in Colombia, looks back fondly on that period of time. After arriving in the United States of America for a fifth time, he met a woman and married.
It was a short-lived relationship that ended with divorce. It ultimately led to a period on the downtown streets near the Chadakoin River that he recalled The Post-Journal covering during his time there.
Contreras would later find work and was able to secure an apartment in the city of Jamestown. His job, which helped him make ends meet, was as a dishwasher at a Salamanca restaurant that has since closed.
It was that location that ended his American dream.
Contreras said one evening in May 2025, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the location and took him into custody where he spent a night in the Cattaraugus County city before being relocated to Watertown. "There were two people who came from I don't know where. They drove me in an (unmarked) car and took me to Batavia."
Throughout the ordeal, he was never offered a phone call or able to reach an attorney. Without U.S. citizenship, the cards were stacked against him.
"I would like to know why?" he said in a phone call to The Post-Journal. Throughout the conversation, he apologized for his dialect and broken English.
Within days, he was deported to the Colombian capital of Bogota. Upon arriving in the Caribbean, Contreras said he went through bouts of depression.
"I was in denial over the deportation," he said. "Now that I am recovering from all that black hole in my mind, I am able to make this phone call."
He admitted, upon arriving, he never went through the proper channels to become a U.S. citizen. He regrets that, but admits he had some fears.
Contreras said it's only been within the last month that he has been able to use a cell phone while in Colombia. While staying with relatives, he's been sharing with them his experiences that mirror those of many who came to our country to view the World Cup soccer competition.
"My family doesn't like the states," he said. "I was trying for one year to tell them what they see on the news is not the states. ... In my own experience, people are lovely and kind. It's nothing like the news."
He reached out to The Post-Journal to say "thank you" to those who knew him and to the citizens in Salamanca who tried, once he was incarcerated, to raise funds to assist him with legal assistance before he was deported.
There also was one last reason he reached out.
"(I'm trying to reach) the owner of the apartment that I was living in," he said. "Those persons have my phone number. I would like to know how much I owe them because they never knew what happened to me."
Despite all the troubles and hardship, Contreras looks forward to a return to the United States. "I love America," he said