Help Perla's Dad: Elderly and Detained Facing Deportation

Story

My name is Perla D. Rosas and I’m writing this with a heavy heart and a deep fear no child should have to carry. On June 18, 2025, my 77-year-old father was detained by ICE at a routine check-in. He has never missed not once in over 25 years. He has built a life here in the United States. He’s worked hard. He’s raised a family. He has followed every rule and lived peacefully in this country for more than 40 years. And now, they want to send him to Cuba—a country he hasn’t known in a lifetime. He has no home, no family, no food, no medication, and no way to survive there. Deporting him is not just cruel—it’s a death sentence. My dad is not only old; he has a lot of health issues. He is diabetic, has a serious heart condition, only one kidney (due to the other one being removed for cancer), and tumors in his thyroid that urgently need to be removed. Detained, he is not getting the medical attention he needs, and if deported, he will have no access to care at all. But beyond his health, my father is a husband, a father, and a grandfather. He and my mother have worked hard their entire lives. She depends on him emotionally, physically, and financially. Since he was detained, she is struggling, putting on a brave face for us, but I know with a broken heart. They’ve been married for decades, and now she sleeps alone not knowing if she’ll ever see her husband again. What breaks my heart even more is my girls wanting their grandfather. They have an incredibly strong bond with him. They cry for him constantly, asking why he’s not home, when they can see him, and why he can’t come back. I don’t know how to explain this to them without breaking. We are raising funds for: • Legal fees to fight for his release • Bail, if he is granted a bond hearing • Support for my mother, who is now carrying this burden alone • Emergency help, in case he is deported and left alone in Cuba I’m terrified for my father’s life. No one should be treated this way—especially not an elderly, sick man who has spent over 40 years in this country doing the right thing. Please, if you can, donate or share this with others. We are desperate to bring him home where he belongs—with his wife, his children, and his grandchildren who miss him more than words can say. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. — Perla D. Rosas