A young Cuban, who prefers to remain anonymous, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as she was leaving work, despite having a valid work permit and having applied for her residency two years ago.
Despite the widespread application of Matter of Q. Li, which mandates the defense of cases involving detention without bail, she was released on bail with an ankle monitor fifteen days ago after spending a month in an immigration detention center. According to immigration law expert Liudmila Marcelo, her case is a lesser evil at this time. In other words, one could almost say she has been lucky.
In a conversation with CiberCuba from Phoenix, Arizona, the young woman shared her experience. "I was stopped in front of my workplace as I was leaving the parking lot. They asked if I had papers to work, I showed my work permit; I have my work permit, my social security number, and they detained me because I don’t have residency, simply because my residency that I applied for two years ago hasn’t arrived," she remarks to this platform via WhatsApp voice messages.
According to her experience, the detention center is a place where she encountered other detained women. "There were many, from many nationalities. When you go in on the first day, it's tough because they leave you for 12 hours in a cold room where the seats are aluminum, without sheets or anything. They leave you there for 12 hours until you get processed. In the dining area, the food isn't very good," she says.
"You pass by there every day. They let you out for one yard, 2 hours a day, but with the heat... Well, it's almost impossible to go out. It's just like a prison. Between the lawyer and the bail, it was 6,000 dollars. I was detained for a month and was granted freedom about two weeks ago."
"I was released with an ankle monitor. I can't go further than an hour away from my house, and I have to wait to see the next appointment, and I don't know when they will take it off. I have no knowledge of that. I had already applied for asylum, I had a work permit due to my asylum case, and then I received the work permit for residency, the social security one, and a court was closed on me," he explains.
"I have to wait for the next appointment and see if my residency comes through or what else I need to do. I have all my court cases closed. They said I had an ICE arrest order, but that wasn't the case because I didn't have an arrest order; I never received any notification or anything, and that didn't show up in court either."
The young woman entered the United States on July 26, three years ago. She started with I-220A, then was I-220B, and now is I-220R, a immigration status granted to those who attend an appointment with ICE.
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