Caymanian’s ICE ordeal continues as bid for freedom stalls

A Caymanian man remains in US immigration detention after a judge denied his green card application and issued a new deportation order.

Allan Dabrio-Marrero, who has lived in the US since 2013 and is married to a US citizen, was on the verge of being released after being granted bond in his ongoing immigration case.

But the latest development means the 34-year-old, who has been in detention since November last year, must remain behind bars at a facility in Mississippi.

His husband, Matthew Marrero, told the Compass the couple had believed that their ordeal was nearing an end after a series of court hearings found in their favour.

A judge rescinded an earlier deportation order and another court approved Dabrio-Marrero’s release on bond pending a decision on his marriage-based green card application.

Now, a third judge has denied that application and issued a fresh order of removal without holding the scheduled hearing. Their lawyers are appealing but for now Dabrio-Marrero must remain in ICE custody.

“This judge jumped ahead without seeing any information,” Marrero said in an interview, claiming the couple had been denied due process.

He insisted this was not the end for the couple, who had lived together in Brooklyn until Dabrio-Marrero was detained at what they believed was a routine green card interview last November.

“We will take it to whatever level we need to, and we will not lay down and play dead,” he said.

Dabrio-Marrero had first moved to the United States in 2013 and applied for asylum, receiving work authorisation while the case was pending.

A hearing in that process was scheduled for December 2022, but he did not receive the notice and did not attend and a removal order was issued in his absence. The substance of his asylum claim was never dealt with.

Marrero said the couple only learned of the removal order when Dabrio-Marrero was taken into custody at the green card interview.

80 days in ICE detention

Dabrio-Marrero has now spent about 80 days in detention and has been transferred between multiple facilities across the United States.

“Half of that time has been spent traveling in chains and cuffs around his ankles and wrists,” Marrero said.

“He started in New Jersey. He went from New Jersey to Phoenix, Phoenix to Texas, Texas to Louisiana. He was in Alligator Alcatraz for a week and a half … and from there he went to this Mississippi facility.”

Though the couple live in New York, he remains detained in Mississippi while the appeal proceeds.

“It’s prison for someone who doesn’t have a criminal record and is only trying to prove himself to be an upstanding member of society. It’s awful” Marrero said.

As well as the appeal the couple’s legal team are contemplating a habeus corpus application in an effort to have his detention declared unlawful.

Marrero stressed that missing a hearing – the apparent basis for his detention – is a civil, not criminal, matter. He said his husband is entitled to apply for permanent residency.

“Because he’s married to me, he’s automatically qualified for a green card,” he said.

For Marrero, the case is ultimately about keeping his family together.

“He is the love of my life. I want my husband out. He deserves to be a contributing member of society.”

Last week, Dabrio-Marrero’s mother, Keisha Dabrio, told the Compass she was heartbroken over her son’s ongoing ordeal in ICE detention.

She said he had been denied access to medication at times and she was concerned for his welfare but proud of his strength in adversity.

“We are grateful to everyone for all the love, support and prayers. We are all just staying hopeful and faithful and praying together,” she said.