Jonathan's Legal Battle and Family Hardship

Hi, my name is Jonathan Escobar, and I want to start off by saying thank you for taking your time to read this. There’s no other way to say this, but I was brought to the US when I was three years old, my parents being immigrants. All they wanted was to give me a better life, and I cannot complain, but due to certain decisions made by our government, things got a lot harder for me and my spouse. I am currently fighting for my right to stay in this country. I am 33 years old now, and when you try to do things the right way, things tend to be a little bit harder than usual. I am currently looking for supporters. Something that I thought I would never be doing is asking people for money, because I feel ashamed and embarrassed, but the fact of the matter is, I need all the support that I can get due to my situation and my status. I was taken into custody by immigration and have been fighting this fight on my own without a lawyer, which is not recommended to anybody, but due to my financial status, I have been forced to represent myself in court. It has come to the point where I do need a lawyer to be able to fight harder for the right to stay. While I was in custody, I endured treatment that I wish no other human should know. At one point, thinking I was having a conversation with one of the guards, I expressed my frustration with the situation I was going through. I mentioned to him that I was so frustrated that I wanted to punch the walls. He tried to say it was normal for human beings to feel like that at times, which obviously I knew was true, but I just needed someone to vent to. After that conversation, it was no more than 10 minutes before they came into my cell, took away everything, and put me into what some people call 'the box.' At this point, I was naked with no covers for two days and no shower. When I was finally able to get the attention of a supervisor who had randomly come in to discuss something with the guard at the front, he came to my window and was surprised that I spoke perfectly good English. He asked me what I was doing in the box. I was able to explain to her exactly what I had said to that other guard and that I hadn’t been able to shower in two days. She spoke to the guard in charge of our unit, and within 30 minutes, I was able to shower for the first time. Unfortunately, the treatment didn’t stop there. After the supervisor left and I was still in the shower, the other guard came up to me and asked if I was ready to go back to my cell. I asked him if I could get a towel, and he walked to his desk, picked up a handful of paper towels, handed them to me, and told me to dry up. I couldn’t hold back my tears, but I also did not let him see me cry. As soon as I got to my cell, it was the most humiliating and unbelievable moment in my life. For a few hours, I was able to return to my regular cell and get new clothes. I was able to be bonded out, but it had a cost of $7,500, which they gave me only 24 hours to come up with in a check made to them/USCIS. This cleared every cent I had, and I even had to borrow money to come up with that, which brings me back to the reason I am doing this post. My wife has epilepsy, and unfortunately, due to her condition and seizures happening at work, she was let go a few months ago. Due to our status, we don’t get help from the government or anything like that, and medication can be costly, but we are in this together and fighting to move forward.

I’m not the type to be asking for money, but I’m at that point where if you could help, it would mean the world to me. The only reason I’m actually doing this post is because a few people had great things to say in a Facebook post that I made about my story and my situation, and they gave me the encouragement to seek help from others because there are kind and helpful people in this world.

Thank you in advance.

Court date is July 18 in case you want to know.