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The family of Justo Betancourt, a Cuban who has been living in the United States for over three decades, is experiencing distressing days after the man went to a routine annual appointment at an immigration court and did not return home.
Betancourt, who is 63 years old and has lived 36 of those years in the U.S., was arrested last Wednesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is currently detained at the Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center in the Everglades, his daughters told the television channel Local10 News.
They and the rest of their family, residing in South Florida, did not imagine such an outcome and are very concerned about the fate that may befall Betancourt, a single father who raised his two daughters alone, has worked for years, and contributed to the community, according to his testimony.
He entered the courthouse, and "my sister and my aunt didn't realize until hours later that they had taken him," reported his daughter Kannis Betancourt, who lives in Miami.
One reason for concern among her family members is Betancourt's delicate health condition, who suffers from type 2 diabetes and needs to inject insulin twice a day, as stated by her eldest daughter, Arianne. The precarious conditions and the lack of adequate medical care at Alligator Alcatraz, which have been reported multiple times, could endanger her life.
"The only time we spoke with him, he told us that he was told that if he wanted insulin, he could get it in Mexico," revealed the daughter, alarmed by the lack of humanity and the warning of a possible deportation of her father.
Betancourt was accused of conspiracy five years ago, but although the case was later dismissed, he has remained on probation (supervised release) since then. However, the family believes he deserves to be treated with compassion and should not remain in custody, as he poses no threat to the community.
"We are all human. No matter what we have done or the mistakes we have made, we are all capable of changing and becoming better. As a country, we should strive to be better," Arianne emphasized.
The Betancourt family is working with lawyers and immigration advocates in search of "legal pathways, such as a humanitarian bail motion or a medical review" that would allow for his temporary release, stated the news portal CubaenMiami.
At the same time, they have launched a campaign on social media calling for their humanitarian release.
"My father was never a burden to this country. He worked, paid taxes, and helped his neighbors. We just want him to be treated with respect and humanity," Arianne stated in remarks to that digital outlet.
"We want his right to live with dignity to be respected. We are not asking for privileges; we are asking for common sense," he emphasized.
Cases like that of Betancourt have become systematic over the past year, following the tightening of immigration policies by the administration of President Donald Trump, with mass raids and expedited deportations of undocumented migrants with criminal records.
The ICE operations inside and outside immigration courts have led to the arrest of numerous immigrants -including Cubans- who attended routine hearings as part of the process to regularize their immigration status.
This practice has been denounced by organizations defending immigrant rights, which see it as a form of intimidation and a violation of due process.
President Trump stated in a recent interview that he believed ICE raids “have not gone far enough because we have been held back by judges, the liberal judges appointed by (Democratic former presidents) Biden and Obama.”
The leader defended ICE's violent tactics "because you have to get people out" and "many are killers."
This Sunday it was announced that ICE will launch an artificial intelligence (AI) system that will allow tracking and analyzing the activity of millions of users on social media, with the aim of identifying immigrants through their posts, images, and digital locations.
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