Hello, all!

Please help support my friend "Jorge" as he rebuilds his house in Nicaragua, preparing for his partner & toddler son to join him. I’m trying to raise $7,000. I’m primarily running this fundraiser because I knew Jorge for 3 ½ years as he lived in the Portland area (starting with a few weeks in my living room!. While waiting for his asylum case to be heard, he got a work permit from the federal government, supported his family, and slowly sent funds home, hoping to return to Nicaragua post-Ortega. Then, ICE abducted him, held him in prison for 14 weeks, and deported him. He’s trying to rebuild a house and re-start a life.

Background:

Jorge came to the United States in 2021 from Nicaragua, seeking political asylum. While waiting for his case to be heard, he received a work permit from the US government, and was legally living in the Portland area, and working construction. His wife joined him, they had a baby. Jorge supported his family, and reveled in being a dad. Despite the conditions in Nicaragua that caused him to flee, he had dreams of returning to Nicaragua one day, and was sending money little by little to have his family's ruined house rebuilt.

Crisis:

Like all asylum seekers, he had to check in regularly with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). In early June, he got a text from ICE telling him to report to their Portland office that day or the following day. If a person doesn’t respond to an ICE directive, they are ordered deported. When he reported to ICE, despite the presence of a volunteer attorney through Oregon’s ECO program, he was arrested (detained) without charges, and sent to the ICE prison (detention center) in Tacoma, WA. Portland Mercury did an article on the situation (https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2025/06/30/47900446/asylum-seekers-are-being-arrested-during-mandatory-ice-check-ins),

He was held by ICE for 14 weeks. Facing either indefinite imprisonment or deportation, he formally requested that he be deported. The US government filed his request on August 4, 2025, but he spent another 6 weeks in prison before being sent to Managua, Nicaragua in mid-September.

Meanwhile, his partner and son had no source of support. I organized friends and friends of friends to support him. and created a GoFundMe page for him (https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ice-detainee-his-family). This, and the Portland Mercury article cited above, can give you more information on his situation in prison.

Current plan, and the need for support:

As I write this, Jorge has been back in Nicaragua for almost 2 weeks. He’s gotten treatment for health problems caused by ICE, including an ankle injury, a respiratory bug, and some kind of skin infection that was rampant among prisoners.

In July, when he opted to be deported, he began to think about how to renovate the house he grew up in. His extended family still owns it, but it was badly damaged in a flood years ago and has been uninhabited for at least 5 years. He can do all the physical work himself, but needs to buy doors, windows, and cement.

He figures that this will be bare-bones functional, but will be enough for his family will come. The house won’t have indoor plumbing or a kitchen, but he figures that can wait, and he can add it as he goes.

Here are the costs I'm fundraising for:

• 6 doors $2,200 (13,000 cordobas, or $USD 361 each)

• 6 windows $2,200

• Re-pour the cement floor – cost is buying the cement $500 (30 bags at $17 (600 cordobas)/bag)

• Hire someone to help for a week - $50 (yes, the mismatch between labor costs & supply costs is shocking)

• This comes to $4,950. I figure that other expenses will come up as the family gets settled, including buying food until he’s working. He mentioned wanting to buy a bed, and I don’t know what that costs. Plus anything to create a bathroom & kitchen.

Someone sent me a $1,000 donation for him to get started, and he bought 2 doors, fixed the cement doorway, and put in the first door today.

I’ll post photos as the work goes along. If you know me personally, feel free to text or email for more info, or with questions. I’ll try to respond to any questions communicated here, although I don’t know if you can post questions here.

The photos already posted show the house overall, to give a sense of the project.

Please join this team of people supporting this brave, hardworking, plucky family!

With gratitude for considering this request.

Nell Whitman

PS - I wanted to use real names, but I can't, until all his family is safely in Nicaragua.