On February 22nd, 2025, my friend Yeicon, a Venezuelan national and legal asylum seeker, was detained in Wilmington, North Carolina, on his way to work in the morning. ICE did not have a warrant signed by a judge. No explanation was given as to why he was being detained. ICE told Yeicon that he had a court hearing in three days and that he would be deported. That was a lie. It was only the start of the panic and terror we would feel over the coming months; at first, the fear was that he would be deported back to a hostile country. Later, once the situation became clear, the fear and terror was unthinkable: Yeicon had become a direct political target of one of the most powerful governments in the world. My government, the United States of America, led by a administration fast-becoming totalitarian, was targeting Venezuelans and sending them to CECOT- a foreign prison known for its humanitarian violations.

It was six months and thousands of dollars later before Yeicon was able to leave ICE custody, but not before being effectively forced to give up asylum and the life he built here in America.

Yeicon came to the United States in 2022 to escape persecution and the impoverished conditions of his home country, Venezuela. Venezuela is economically devastated and under U.S. sanctions. He was processed by immigration and became a legal asylum seeker. He followed every rule: appearing at asylum court dates, completing a biometric appointment, applying for and being granted a work authorization card from the government. He has no criminal record, in any country— certified by local governments in his home town and by U.S. based background checks.

Two days before Yeicon was taken, he received a letter in the mail for his 2026 master asylum court hearing. We were anticipating preparing any further documents he needed and consulting pro-bono legal services to secure his future and safety here. At that time In February we started to get nervous hearing about immigration raids, but the messaging was about deporting criminals, and Yeicon assured me- that day he received his letter- that it was a good sign. He had his court date. He wasn’t a criminal. So what did we have to worry about? We never imagined what would come next.

Yeicon spent two months in detention at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia before his first bond hearing. The delay was caused by a predatory system— immigration is a FOR-PROFIT system. We made a few mistakes with lawyer selection before the learning curve flattened. We were advised that Yeicon had been detained due to a paperwork error he made with his asylum application. But this was incorrect. During Yeicon’s bond hearing on April 16th 2025, the judge was meant to determine if Yeicon was a danger to society or a flight risk. Instead, the HSI/ICE's lawyers revealed a memo that he had been deemed a quasi-terrorist as a “known associate to Tren de Aragua." In the coming months, they had multiple chances to deliver evidence of any kind and did not. Still, they held him in custody.

Immediately I went into to shock. A few weeks before that day, hundreds of Venezuelans had been trafficked by the U.S. government to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, known for human rights violations. I had seen the photos— men shackled hand to feet, shaved heads, almost naked lined up on the floor like sardines, stacked on steel beds without mattresses. Crying for help, for their mothers. A modern day concentration camp. The Trump administration has deemed TDA a terrorist organization and is continuing to ramp up aggression on Venezuela and Venezuelan nations. Tren de Aragua is a violent, mostly disorganized gang in Venezuela. TdA does not even exist in the region Yeicon is from or anywhere he has lived. According to major news sources, most of the men sent to CECOT had no criminal record.

I will never forgot how my body shook when I heard the news, how completely powerless I felt and how devastated and confused Yeicon was as he cried and told me, "I don't understand what they are saying about me. I am not a bad person. All I have ever done is to work for my daughters."

I went into panic mode and posting mode and finally got connected to a team of lawyers in Los Angeles through a personal referral. I knew we would lose him forever if we didn’t fight to protect him now with everything we had. We couldn't afford any more inexperienced lawyers and it would cost us, but the alternative was far worse. Unimaginably worse.

Our lawyers connected with the American Immigration Council and from there the ACLU also got involved. Together the two organizations worked on habeas protection for Yeicon while our lawyers focused on Yeicons asylum case— the only thing preventing him from an immediate removal order. Venezuelan men with removal orders were at that time being held in Texas while the administration fought Texas courts to br able to send them to CECOT. We knew Yeicon could be next. I said yes to whatever would give us a leg up to protect him. Including saying no to certain press, which we were warned could make him a target. This was not a world or circumstances I ever imagined could happen in the United States. Simply put, we terrorized by the current administration. I was scared every single day that he would be moved to Texas. The terror never left. It was there morning, noon and night, for six months. Waiting on edge for weeks before the non-profits submitted his habeas petition and months in between asylum court hearings.

I spent six months watching Yeicon deteriorate, first mentally and then physically. His body changed. His teeth became loose. He was sick a few times. He was told by a doctor there that the water was toxic. It came from the same pipe as the toilet water. He watched others collapse in detention. A man committed suicide in his cell block. He was angry— but mostly confused— trapped— he said again and again he didn’t understand. I eventually realized he meant he didn’t understand because it didn’t make sense. It never would. I explained the legality and the convoluted nature of immigration law over and over but in the end, Yeicon was right. Nothing actually made sense and it never will.

When we finally had it on paper that ICE/HSI had no evidence that Yeicon was “gang affiliated” we applied for a new bond hearing. That week, a new precedent by the board of immigration appeals took away his opportunity for bond. We proceeded regardless. Everyone was confused. The lawyers were under water. Their other clients were starting to “disappear” and everyone was in panic mode. The judge at the second bond hearing took days to deliberate his decision. In the end he was unable to grant bond based on a lack of jurisdiction because of the new precedent but stated that he was sympathetic to Yeicon and did not believe he was any danger to society.

Again, we were devestated. By that point, it had been five months and a decision needed to be made. We were highly— and rightfully in hindsight— suspicious that detention would become never-ending if he continued to fight for asylum, a minimum 6 months to a few years locked in that detention center.

With the judge’s written decision Yeicon chose to take a risk. Ask for a voluntary departure- which requires another hearing and a judges order. But first, without knowing the decision, an asylum seeker must GIVE UP their claim to asylum. This would leave him without any protection. If denied, he’d receive an immediate order for removal and could be effectively transferred out and deported anywhere. The administration was deporting people to places like Djibouti at that time where civil war is raging.

After a month of nerves on top of nerves, Yeicon was granted voluntary departure and we waited for another two weeks in fear not knowing if ICE would respect the order. Or do something nefarious now that Yeicon had less legal protections. Finally he received a notice that he was being put on a deportation plane to Venezuela. He could take a backpack. We had no heads-up on anything— only our forward thinking got him the backpack and just enough cash for bus tickets once he arrived. After a week of travel he was back home at his mother’s home in Venezuela.

Exactly six months to the day on August 22 2025. It was over.

Despite everything, Yeicon still wants to be here in America. He valued the opportunity and freedom more than most of us do. He wanted to be here and to be a part of what makes America…full of possibilities. At the very least. And at best, one that would have protected him from being persecuted by those sworn to protect it’s core tenants.

Yeicon is a resilient soul. He is more than a name on a list. First and foremost he is a father to two beautiful daughters. He is a brother and a son. Yeicon is warm-hearted and outgoing, shy at heart and a true romantic. He loves to dance, watch movies, swim at the beach, play pool, and cook, especially grilling outdoors. He is always ready to help people. He is an excellent mechanic. Anyone who knows him has seen how his face lights up when he is on a video call with his daughters. At his lowest moments in detention, he was not thinking of himself, but of them, he desperately told me nearly every day “I just need to work for my daughters.” They were without his income for six months. Yeicon's step-brother also passed while he was detained and he was broken hearted to be unable to provide support for his grieving father. He could not video call many of his family members and phone calls abroad cost $1 / minute. His mother sent me countless desperate voice notes- prayers to God to help her son.

Yeicon is a victim of what I believe is an egregious destruction of our civil liberties. His health, months of potential income, everything he built here from scratch were taken from him. Six months of freedom taken. Based on lies. From the highest level of our government. For a policy that benefits a few and degrades our rights as citizens.

I spent six months fighting for him and I would do it again. The debt is huge but it is only money. What’s important will always be the safety and freedom of those we love and that was made crystal clear to me the day he was taken and every day he was held from my grasp since then. I still haven’t been able to touch him or say a real goodbye and now we are separated by an ocean. Our goodbye hug was on February 21, when I thought we’d be seeing each other that weekend.

Thank you to everyone taking the time to read our story. I’ve just updated it to reflect us being two months out from the “end” which is not really any ending. We’re still dealing with the fallout and we are forever changed by what happened. Mostly, with a strengthened appreciation for civil liberties and holding the people we love close.

Thank you for the donations. Every donation helps me dig out from the financial hole of this emergency. I will continue to pay off the legal fees and other expenses (phone / video call fees and commissary food purchases) incurred.

Yeicon is now with his family in Venezuela, living in impoverished conditions and slowly recovering from his time in detention. It's bittersweet to see him free, while knowing the injustice that was done to him. We continue to fundraise here and to trying to rebuild his life. Work is very hard to come by but we have plans to help him and although it’s bittersweet, he is physically free, out of detention and I am so so thankful to every single person who helped us get here. Yeicon is immensely grateful for every message and for the amazing people who stepped up to support us.

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Thank you.

Kaelyn