Alfredo Linares and his American wife left Culver City, California, eight weeks ago fearing arrest, detention and deportation. 

“Today is my last day right here in the United States after 20 years. It’s time to go,” said Linares, who is undocumented.

“I just felt very emotional and sad that I’m leaving,” said Linares, who opted to self-deport to his native Mexico before being potentially targeted by ICE agents. “I just felt I was going to be picked up and asked questions and all of that.”

When Linares was a teenager, he immigrated to the U.S. without legal permission. For 20 years, he excelled in the food industry, working his way up to a cook at a Michelin-star restaurant.

Two years ago, he and his wife, Raegan Kline, went into business together operating a street vending pop-up and catering business. 

They got married, hoping to correct his immigration status, but that would have required him to return to Mexico for at least a decade.

He didn’t want to be separated from his wife and had wished for immigration reform.

But his hopes were dashed with the election of President Donald Trump, and the couple decided they wanted to avoid the chaos of possible deportation and instead leave L.A. on their own terms.

“I loved it there. It is home, it was my home, and it was hard to leave,” said Kline, who is learning Spanish as she maneuvers her new life in a new country. “I’m not going to risk my husband going to a work camp or being sent to El Salvador.”

For now, they’ve gone to Puerto Vallarta, hoping this could be their new home, a place where they say they feel safe and free.

“Everything is going to be OK,” said Linares. “We have to understand to let go of things so we could keep getting blessings.”

As positive as Linares feels about the couple’s future in Mexico, their first two months have been like a roller coaster of emotion. He said it was joyful to see his mother in person for the first time in 20 years, but he stressed about starting a business and a new life in a country he barely remembers. 

“I feel foreign in my own country,” said Linares. 

“I also went through a feeling like I’m somehow betraying the (United States),” Kline said. “I feel like I’m the type of person that would stay and fight.”

For now, they are focused on each other, their new country, their new home, and a future without fear and feeling free in Mexico. 

—NBC