A Brooklyn man says he’s praying for a Christmas miracle — the release of his husband from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Allan Dabrio Marrero was detained two weeks ago at a routine hearing, but the Department of Homeland Security says he received “full due process.”
“He’s in prison basically”
The only way Matthew Marrero can see his husband is at an ICE detention facility.
“He’s the love of my life. He’s my best friend. He’s the only person that has really seen and heard me the way I like to be heard and seen,” Marrero said. “He’s in prison basically, and he doesn’t have a criminal record. He has done nothing wrong. We’ve done everything right up to this point.”
The couple went to immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza for Dabrio Marrero’s routine green card interview on Nov. 24, but instead of leaving together, Marrero’s husband was taken into ICE custody.
“My whole world just fell apart right then and there,” Marrero said.
Immigration advocates working to gain Dabrio Marrero’s release
Members of the couple’s Middle Church family and immigration advocates rallied Tuesday to free the man who came to the U.S. in 2013 from the Cayman Islands, seeking asylum based on his LGBTQ+ identity. A decade later, the couple met and got married and filed their own immigration paperwork.
“Allan is a man who kept meticulous track of his immigration paperwork and tried to do everything by the book,” said Alexandra Rizio, supervising immigration attorney for Make the Road New York, which filed a motion to reopen his deportation case.
While the motion is being considered, he can’t be deported.
“The Trump administration has fired 25% of immigration judges in New York. When will Allan’s case be heard? When will he get his day in court?” Rizio said.
DHS, Marrero at odds over 2022 immigration hearing
A DHS spokesperson said, in part, “[Dabrio Marrero] entered the United States on a tourist visa that required him to depart the United States by Sept. 8, 2013. After he failed to show up for his immigration hearing, a judge ordered him a final order of removal in 2022. He received full due process.”
However, Marrero said they never received notice about that 2022 hearing, and didn’t know Dabrio Marrero missed it until his green card interview two weeks ago. Now, his husband has been left worrying and praying.
“Inside detention, my husband’s medications have been mishandled,” Marrero said. “It took over a week for him to receive socks and a towel. He has had homophobic slurs directed at him, and every day I push our story forward, praying for a Christmas miracle that my husband will come home.”
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