‘Little People, Big World’: Real Reason For Deportation Of Roloff Family Farmhand Not Disclosed On Show

Little People, Big World, Season 11, premiered last Tuesday on TLC. The first episode of Season 11 found the Roloff family sharing some good news, as well as some bad news. Zach Roloff and wife Tori announced they are expecting their first child, while Matt and Amy said goodbye to longtime Roloff family farmhand, Camerino Gonzalez Sanchez. Camerino has been a farmhand on the large Roloff family farm for the last 17 years and said his goodbyes as he was being deported back to his home country of Mexico. The popular Little People, Big World blog, Spirits Wander, shared on Saturday that the real reason for Camerino’s deportation of drug charges and illegal immigration status was not disclosed on the show.

Spirits Wander has been keeping up with Little People, Big World news for the last 11 years, even before the first episode of the reality TV series aired on TLC in 2006. The very first blog post on April 1, 2005, titled “Happy April Fools’ Day!,” shared Matt Roloff’s joke, where the Little People, Big World patriarch tweeted that the Roloff family farm had been sold, saying “We just sold the farm to an investor from the far East.” Little People, Big World features the large Roloff family farm, called Roloff Farms, that’s located “about 30 miles west of Portland and just north of Hillsboro in the unincorporated community of Helvetia Oregon,” according to the Roloff Farms website.

“As the backdrop for many of the antics and adventures of the Roloff family, the farm has been featured often in the popular long-running TLC reality series Little People, Big World.”

Of course, Matt Roloff, 55, assured his Twitter followers that the April Fools’ Day tweet was “simply done for humor,” since the farm has always been open to the public for pumpkin season and private tours and has become an extremely popular tourist attraction thanks to exposure from Little People, Big World.

While Spirits Wander’s first blog post was shared, along with a bait-and-switch title in the spirit of April Fools’ Day, the “commentary” on Little People, Big World and the entire Roloff family — Matt, Amy, Zach, Molly, Jacob, and Jeremy Roloff — shared its most recent blog post last Saturday that was no laughing matter. The post, titled “More On Roloff Family Farmhand Camerino’s Deportation To Mexico — Drug Charges,” goes into detail about why the Roloff family farmhand was really deported.

According to Spirits Wander, Little People, Big World did not share the “whole story” about why Camerino Sanchez was being detained for deportation back to Mexico. Camerino’s deportation wasn’t a huge part of the Little People, Big World, Season 11, premiere episode on November 22, as Zach and Tori shared big baby news, Matt again went in for surgery, and Amy continued with life as a single woman on the Roloff farm, but fans took to social media afterwards to share their outrage over the separation of families, as Camerino has become part of the Roloff family after nearly two decades of working for Matt, and is a father of two himself. Hashtag #LPBW blew up with tweets in support of Camerino, and some Twitter users wondered why the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would deport “someone who isn’t causing trouble.”

Spirits Wander even calls the episode heart-wrenching, as the Roloff family says their “tearful goodbyes” to Camerino, but goes on to say that the longtime farmhand actually was in some trouble, which was not disclosed on Little People, Big World. Apparently, according to legal documents, that can be read here, Camerino Sanchez had been convicted of drug possession nine years ago after a car accident that led to a police search of his car, which ultimately turned up cocaine. Also, Camerino reportedly didn’t have legal U.S. residency status when he was arrested on drug charges, and, apparently, still doesn’t, as outlined by an online petition that Matt Roloff put together to try to “stop the deportation of Camerino and demand a complete review of his legal case.”

Roloffs Devastated Over Camerino | Little People, Big World | TLC https://t.co/VPBpAZDhSI

— patty a gruteke (@fallower) November 23, 2016

The Little People, Big World patriarch claims in the petition posted on Care2 Petitions that Camerino has had immigration lawyers working unsuccessfully on his case for over two decades, and Matt says Camerino crossed the border into the U.S. from Mexico 24 years ago. Matt Roloff goes on to say that Camerino was “essentially adopted” into the Roloff family 17 years ago, and has since become the arms and legs for him, since he walks on crutches and suffers from dwarfism. Matt also claims that Camerino was “falsely accused and convicted of drug possession,” since police didn’t have cause or permission to search his vehicle nine years ago when he put it in the ditch. Frequent contributor to Spirits Wander, Rap541, sums up Matt’s plea in the petition, saying that Matt Roloff is trying to stop the deportation of Camerino by stating there’s allegedly new evidence to overturn the drug conviction and Camerino’s immigration lawyer was incompetent.

Rap541 also states that Matt Roloff is using his Little People, Big World fanbase to get sympathy for Camerino with a “not very well thought-out argument” and without stating all the facts. But Matt Roloff is simply asking for a complete review of Camerino’s legal case in order to try to reunite the “broken family” on Little People, Big World, as well reunite Camerino with his two young daughters, who are both reportedly U.S. citizens. And Matt’s heartfelt plea seems to be working, as he asks Little People, Big World fans to “please sign this petition today.” The petition now has over 1,100 supporters and needs less than 1,000 more before it’s sent off to the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Watch Season 11, Episode 2, of Little People, Big World, titled “Pumpkins in Jeopardy,” tonight on TLC at 8 p.m. EST. Matt comes home from the hospital, pumpkin season could be ruined, Zach and Tori plan for their anniversary, and Amy goes to a single’s mixer, as summarized by TV Guide.

[Featured Image by Thos Robinson/Getty Images]