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Jersey Vargas, 13, was just starting a long night of homework Wednesday when I asked how school was going.

Everythings fine. Straight As, said the Panorama City seventh-grader, who attends a magnet school and wants to go to Harvard or Yale one day. But math is getting more difficult.

I hadnt spoken to Jersey since I met her three years ago, when shestopped by the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to meet with L.A. Archbishop Jose Gomez. Not long after that, just 10 years old, she headed to Rome with immigration reform advocates and asked Pope Francis if he could help save her father and millions of others from deportation.

Today, Jerseys father construction worker Mario Vargas may still need a miracle to avoid being kicked out of the country. He was arrested in 2013 in Tennessee and locked up for driving under the influence. He was released on bond several months later, but his deportation was formally begun earlier this month in immigration court.

The family is on pins and needles, said L.A. attorney Alex Galvez, who is requesting that federal officials use prosecutorial discretion and spare Vargas, who has lived in the U.S. without authorization for 17 years. Galvez arguesthat Vargas is a working, law-abiding family man of good character, with the exception of the DUI conviction, and is the primary breadwinner for Jersey and her five brothers and sisters, who are U.S. citizens.

Its hard to predict what will happen as the case moves forward because the Trump administration has sent so many mixed signals. Trump has said hes going after bad dudes guilty of serious crimes, but new deportation guidelines make it appear that the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally could all get the boot.

I think Trump is absolutely right to go after hard-core criminals. But I wonder how many taxpayers want to invest in prosecuting and shipping Mario Vargas back to Mexico, or to begin rounding upand deporting millions more like him. If Trump is such a great businessman, why doesnt he produce a breakdown on the costs and benefits, including the impact on the economy, wages and the price of goods?

Mario Vargas and countless others came north because of the relentless U.S. demand for labor. If that bothersTrump, why is he so timid about the bad hombres in the construction, agriculture, hospitality and banking industries, all of whom rely on and profit from illegal immigration? His schtick, instead, is to bully poor people who fled corruptionand crime to find work and provide for their families.

I checked back with Archbishop Gomeztoo, and he said if he had the chance, he would offer a simple piece of advice to Trump.

Get to know these people.

I was celebrating Mass at Saint Helensin South Gate and I was thinking, This church is packed, said Gomez. A lot of these people may not have documents, but theyre wonderful people. They come to church. Theyre hard-working. They pay taxes. They have nice families. I mean, these are good people, and I thought, Mr. Trump needs to come to St. Helens in South Gate to see how wonderful these people are.

He should get to know thewhole city, Gomez said.

We have Mass in 42 languages in Los Angeles, he said. This is the United States of America.

If someone in the U.S. illegally commitsa really bad crime, Gomez said, hes not opposed to deportation. But for someone like Jerseys father, he said, deportation for a relatively minor offensewould betoo severe.

Honestly, for me, the penalty is not proportionate to what happened, he said.

As he interprets Trumps immigration policy, Gomez said, any person in this country whos undocumented is considered a criminal. For me, that doesnt respect those basic principles I talkabout the dignity of the human person, the unity of the family.

I hear from a lot of readers, I told Gomez, who disagree. They want stricter border enforcement. Illegal is illegal, they say, and those who crash the border shouldnt be allowed to stay here while others wait in line for legal entry.

If youre skilled, said Gomez, the wait is much shorter. If youre a laborer, youll stand in line forever, no matter how great the demand for your work.

What about the Ten Commandments? I asked. If youre here illegally, doesnt that mean you broke the 9th Commandment thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor?In other words, thou shalt not lie. (Has Trump been to confession lately?)

First of all, no matter what, the Catholic Church is going to protect our brothers and sisters, Gomez said. And the 1st Commandment is to love God and love one another. If its a situation where someone lies were going to be there for them, just as Jesus was always taking care of sinners.

Gomezs vision of immigration reform would include secure borders, penalties and possibly community service requirements for those who came without authorization, and a system that allows for the regulatedmovement of people into and out of the country as dictated by labor needs.

People are so afraid. Theyre really nervous, Gomez said. Its so sad to see little kids, like Jersey and others, thinking, I dont want to go to school because when I come home, maybe my parents will be gone.

If Jerseys father is deported, either the family will follow, and our public investment in the kids will be wasted before they become taxpaying contributors. Or the kids will stay, without their breadwinner, and taxpayers could be on the hook.

To Donald Trump, I would tell him to please stop judging us, because its like judging a book by its cover, Jersey told me.

Outwardly, at least, she has an unbound sense of optimism, and shes not giving up on Trump becoming more understanding. Maybe, she said, hell build bridges and not walls.If so, He could go down as one of our greatest presidents.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Get more of Steve Lopez's work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez

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Trump needs to stop terrifying immigrant families and consider the real cost of mass deportations - Los Angeles Times