Help Miguel and His Family Fight Against Illegal Deportation

Our dear friend Miguel Jerez-Robles, a legal Cuban immigrant and asylee who legally came to the U.S. in 2022, was in Miami on May 22 with his wife and mother for his asylum case.

Unexpectedly in a surprise new tactic, the government attorneys requested dismissing his asylum case entirely. Ultimately, this left Miguel with no legal status. Moments thereafter, he was suddenly taken into custody by ICE officials waiting in the hallway outside of the courtroom. He has since been transferred from Broward County, Florida to Tacoma, Washington.

As some of you know, Kathy and I have been the unofficial sponsors (some say guardian angels) for Miguel, his wife Geraldine, his sister Vivianne (a medical doctor), his mother Celeste (also a medical doctor) and Eduardo (our close friend and fiancé of Vivianne.) We have helped them get their new lives established in our hometown of McFarland, Wisconsin, doing everything from shopping for winter coats to helping them pass their driver’s tests.

We have ensured they follow their respective immigration procedures to the letter of the law. All of them are kind, gentle, hard-working and gracious. They are not on any kind of government assistance program. Miguel is a shift leader at Amazon in Madison while Geraldine is a driver. They even have a wonderful YouTube channel about life in the United States. They are the very definition of model immigrants who love the U.S and the freedom of opportunity it provides—exactly what our own families felt when they arrived here once upon a time.

Since that moment in court last Thursday, our Cuban family (and ours as well) has been going through absolute hell, not knowing Miguel’s fate and fearing he could be deported to Cuba without so much as a review of his case.

Now, because of a new overreaching and xenophobic policy, a young wife is devastated, a family suffers, and Miguel's sister's wedding in Madison in early June has been called off. Our extended family is absolutely stunned at the cruelty and the willful disregard for due process that should be afforded to anyone legally entitled to it. That’s the American way.

As Cubans, rights to asylum hearings have existed since the Cuban Adjustment Act, signed into law by President Johnson in 1966.

While all this is still unfolding, I am helping to make sure their apartment will not be lost, nor their car repossessed. Their paycheck-to-paycheck existence has been destroyed by legal fees and Miguel's lack of income while is he being held.

I am asking for your help. Any kind of donation is deeply appreciated, with the hope that we can show our Cuban family that America really is about compassion and extending a helping hand.