Man Arrested by ICE While Applying for Legal Status With Husband
Paul Frame says his husband Jose "Ivan" Nunez wanted to do things "the right way" when he decided to file papers to live in the U.S. legally.
However, the married couple was torn apart three weeks ago when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents interrupted a green card meeting with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in West Philadelphia and arrested Nunez on the spot.
Frame said his husband had started the process to become a U.S. citizen and that the pair had been meeting with USCIS officers on January 31 to have the validity of their marriage confirmed. The couple thought the meeting would be a routine one until Nunez was put in handcuffs and taken away.
Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now
"We went into the meeting, we got the marriage certificate, for which we were approved...We thought we were going to be in and out in half an hour," a tearful Frame said Monday at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Center City, where he was joined by advocates for the LGBT and Latino community at a press conference demanding his husband's release.
Weeks later, however, Nunez is still being held at the York County Detention Center waiting to hear his fate.
While Frame was already a U.S. citizen, his husband had come to the U.S. illegally from Mexico almost eight years ago and had been living as an undocumented immigrant.
The couple met at a wedding in 2014, and were married in April 2016.
The pair's meeting with USCIS to confirm the validity of their marriage had been a routine step in the process to petition for what is known as an I-130 Form, which allows U.S. citizens or permanent residents to apply for a family member to legally immigrate to the U.S.
Frame said he had pushed a hesitant Nunez, who goes by the name Ivan, to apply to become a U.S. citizen.
"I was the one that pushed Ivan to do this. He was a little skeptical, but I said, 'let's go through the process, let's become legal so we have no worries'," Frame said.
"We go to the meeting and they take him out and this is what happens? My thought is who that is not legal is going to go through this process? Who is going to go into fear with what is going on right now?" he added.
Officials at USCIS told Philly.com it is standard practice for the agency to notify ICE when people who enter the office have warrants of deportation or are in proceedings. A spokesperson told the news website the agency's policy is “to fully cooperate with law enforcement partners in the performance of their duties."
Frame and Nunez's story is one of several that have emerged since the Trump administration announced its crackdown on immigration.
Under President Donald Trump, ICE has seen an expansion in its list of priorities for arresting undocumented immigrants. Whereas the agency previously prioritized undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions, it has expanded its focus to those who can be charged and arrested for being in the U.S. without papers.
Nunez's attorney, Gonzalo Peralta said no criminal charges had been filed against his client as of Monday.
ICE officials told the news website Nunez had been previously removed from the U.S. in August 2010, however, adding that people who reenter the country after being removed or deported can be charged with a felony offense, although that is rarely the outcome. In Nunez's case, his attorney says no charges were ever laid.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Advocacy groups present at Monday's press conference, including Juntos, a community-led immigration advocacy group, and GALAEI, a social justice group supporting Latinos within the LGBT community said people must come together to resist the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
A petition calling for Nunez's release has quickly gathered more than 800 signatures.