Urgent Aid For My Spouse, Detained by ICE

Who Are We and What Do We Seek?

Hello, my name is Jose M. I'm a Puerto Rican-born U.S. citizen, and I'm the person sitting to the right of the picture creating this GoFundMe Page. The very handsome Nicaraguan gentleman who sits to the left of this picture is my beloved husband, Byron A., who has been under ICE custody since early February 2025. I decided to include this picture because it feels like our national symbols are now fatuous, at best. It was January 2024, my husband's first time on the Staten Island Ferry; we chose our seats outside so that he could appreciate and honor The Statute of Liberty for the first time. The National Symbol of what is supposed to be Freedom, Democracy, and Opportunity in this country... the irony.

I'm asking for your support for $5,000 to cover the legal expenses related to his defense, medical evaluation costs for immigration, basic commissary needs, and the cost of communication with his family and me. Any additional funds raised will be used to support his mother, who currently resides in Nicaragua and is no longer able to help her son through these challenges. She has her own medical challenges, and economic resources are severely limited for her due to her husband's (My spouse's dad) passing from COVID-19 in 2021.

My Life Story So Far

As mentioned before, I'm a Puerto Rican-born US Citizen who left the island after the events of Hurricane Maria in 2017. The primary reason I came to the US was to start a new life, one that was closer to the authentic version of who I truly am. I landed in NYC through friends who supported me and life experiences; I'd made amends with myself and also completed a 4-year degree in Health-related sciences. By August 2021, I had moved to the city of Miami, FL, where I continued my graduate studies as an MPH student at FIU and made contributions to the fight against HIV in areas such as research, testing, prevention efforts, and treatment.

Moving to Miami meant that I was mostly alone and focused on my studies for the first year and a half of living in the city. I made a few close friends who were present during a difficult time in my life; they were, in a sense, my closest family, and I cherished the time that they were present. Eventually, they went their ways, and I was back to being alone. Starting in 2023, I began going out more and placing myself in social settings that initially felt uncomfortable but later grew to be enjoyable. I enrolled in the beach volleyball league, and it was there that I met my now-beloved husband. We started as friends playing beach volleyball and grew into a relationship that went on for two years before we finally got married

Sadly, in early February 2025, my spouse was detained by ICE due to an open case that he had in Broward. Even though the case was being actively worked on and he was out on bond, the current administration decided to detain him with the intention of expediting removal proceedings. We requested two immigration bonds before the same judge, and he denied them under the pretext that he "could" be a flight risk. My husband, who, to this day, has never lived in any city other than Miami since 2018 and has no criminal convictions to this day, is petitioning for asylum, has paid all his taxes every year, and is married to a Puerto Rican US Citizen, deemed a flight risk. I haven't seen him since then, and I have never felt so alone in my life; I've hated every second of this torture, and I only pray that this tragedy comes to an end soon, not just for me but for all the other families that are living this same experience.

My husband has been moved around multiple detention facilities in the state of Florida. In one instance, he was placed in a solitary confinement cell (this cell is the size of a regular parking lot where he would eat, sleep, and defecate while being deprived of any human interactions) at the federal prison FDC Downtown Miami due to the lack of capacity house migrants in regular detention facilities. I would ask, order, and painfully/miserably beg my criminal and immigration attorneys to see my husband and at least talk to him for one to two hours in hopes of not losing him to a mental health impairment/disease.

It's been over two months since I last saw my dear husband in person. I miss him, and I still cry and pray almost every single day. I pray for his wellbeing and that we receive a favorable outcome so we can reunite once more.

Closing

I sincerely thank you for listening to my story. I would appreciate it if you could help me with either contributing or sharing the link. I've been in this process for 7months now, every single day, and I can't do this alone. I'm creating this GoFundMe Page because I'm not ready to give up on my husband, but I need your help. I've included pictures that I've never posted on any social media. These are the memories of the last two years that we spent together. Please enjoy and thank you.