Pedro Hernandez isn’t Juan’s biological father, but that doesn’t matter. For almost 14 years, Pedro has been the 23-year-old’s dad, primary caretaker, and cheerleader. Juan has cerebral palsy, and Pedro helps him bathe, clean his feeding tube, and get in and out of bed. But Hernandez is also undocumented, and despite being married to a U.S. citizen and a father of three other U.S. citizens, he faces being torn from his family within days. Hernandez has fought off deportation before—in 2015, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) even declared he was “not a priority case” and granted him a work permit. But last month, Celeste, Hernandez’s wife, “was startled by a pounding on the door.” It was ICE agents, and they were telling her Hernandez should prepare for deportation:
"I said I didn't understand, we had an appointment on Sept. 19 and everything was good," she said. "I asked what had changed. He replied, 'New president, new administration. We have to get him and others out by Oct. 1.' "
She said the agent also warned her not to go to the media, as she had when Hernandez-Ramirez faced deportation in 2013, or they would deport him immediately.
But with “nothing to lose," Celeste did. "People need to know what is going on,” she said, asking assistance from some of the same organizers who had helped Hernandez before. Lynn Tramonte, one of those activists, noted that ICE’s move is a cruel “numbers game” for the Trump administration, because the Oct. 1 date given by ICE is actually the end of the government's fiscal year. “They want to deport as many people as they can, and that's going after people with old orders of deportation that have been given a reprieve. They just want to be able to show a big number of deportations for the half fiscal year."
No matter the fact that the federal government had already said that Hernandez was low-priority for deportation, and no matter the fact that his family stands to be devastated if he’s torn from his home.
As Celeste told the Plain Dealer, their family has been trying to follow the rules by checking in with ICE when instructed and trying, unsuccessfully, to find ways to legalize Hernandez’s immigration status. "I keep thinking this is a nightmare, or a mistake," she said. "We did everything they asked. We were told everything was fine and that he could stay. I don't understand why they are doing this to us.” Now she worries that because she cannot care for her son on her own due to her own disability, she may be forced to put him into care:
"I have back problems, I can not lift Juan out of the bed, I can't lift anything more than 20 pounds" she said. "Pedro handled all that. I never thought I would say this, but after 28 years, I might have to put my son to a place that could give him 24-hour care. It takes three people to care for him, including a nurse. Without Pedro, I can't do it.
"People say I should just move to Mexico if Pedro goes, but Juan couldn't survive there," she added. "Look at what he goes through here. He would not make it in that country. I can't believe my government is putting us through this. Do they have no heart, no compassion?"
Under this administration, that may be the case. After his poorly-attended inauguration, Donald Trump emboldened federal immigration agents by unshackling them and tossing out any enforcement priorities set up by Barack Obama. Just last month, Rebecca Adducci, director of the Detroit ICE Field Office, refused pleas for compassion for Jesus Lara and deported him after nearly 20 years in the U.S. Now, Hernandez is her next target.
"This is nothing but cruelty," said David Leopold, the family’s attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "There is no reason to banish this man from the family. He has been working, paying taxes, and caring for his stepson for 14 years. And ICE has allowed him to stay here for years. If he is deported, Juan may well end up in a nursing facility at taxpayers' expense. The American taxpayer is 10 times better off allowing Pedro to continue what he is doing than putting the burden on the Ohio taxpayers,” he continued. “This is just common sense.”