A few from Venezuela was arrested by federal immigration officials this week and charged with misdemeanor unlawful access, more than two decades after their arrival at the southeastern U. S. borders.
The timing of the detention and costs is strange and reflects the Trump administration’s extremely violent immigration techniques. The pair had been granted temporary protection from deportation while their claims for prison were being adjudicated.
Activists for the pair say it is the first time they’ve seen such a situation, in which immigrants have been charged with unlawful entry much after the fact. They say the case had set constitutional precedent, and may affect thousands of different immigrants who also entered the U. S. improperly but were granted constitutional protections. Those people are registered with the federal government, so their locations are known to specialists.
The couple — Cesar, 27, and Norelia, 34 — asked to be identified by their middle titles out of fear of repercussions from the Cuban government and concern for their pending says.
” This is worse than a dictatorship”, said Cesar’s father, Gregorio, 51, who also asked to be identified by his middle name because of his own pending hospital state. ” If]Cesar ] had committed an error, then he should pay for it. But this situation is unfair”.
Cesar and Norelia are being held by the U. S. Marshals Service in Washington, D. C. A provincial city judge is scheduled to speak their case Wednesday afternoon.
Cesar and Norelia fled Venezuela with Gregorio and various extended family members. Gregorio said they were persecuted because of their help for the opposition group in Venezuela. Gregorio worked as a security guard for members of the opposition. Cesar was in the defense and wanted to quit but feared being jailed.
Planning to apply for prison, the home made their way upward through Central America and Mexico before wading across the Rio Grande and arriving at the U. S. border in 2022. They entered improperly near El Paso and approached Border Patrol agents, who processed and released them.
Everyone in the home now has Temporary Protected Status and a pending hospital program, Gregorio said. Temporary Protected Status allows people to officially reside and work in the U. S. if they face conditions— quite as warfare or environmental disasters— that may stop a safe return to their homelands.
Seeking asylum is a legal right under federal and international law, regardless of how someone arrives on U. S. soil. But the Trump administration has embarked on a campaign of mass deportations, stripping certain immigrants of their legal protections along the way.
The couple and their three children, ages 12, 9 and 4, settled in southeast Washington, D. C., where they found jobs making food deliveries and doing housekeeping.
On Monday, they were returning home from work around 1: 30 p. m. when agents with Customs and Border Protection in an unmarked gray SUV arrested them.
In a video of the scene taken by the eldest son, a barking dog and crying children can be heard in the background as agents detain Cesar and place him in the SUV.
” We didn’t do anything”! the boy yells out in English.
” Illegal entry”, one of the agents tells the family in Spanish, adding that they have an arrest order.
The children were not taken into custody and allowed to stay with Norelia’s sister, who was home at the time.
” Thank God]the extended family ] is here”, said Gregorio. ” Imagine if those kids had been left alone? They separate you from your family for no reason”.
Criminal complaints for the couple were filed Feb. 27 in U. S. district court for the Western District of Texas, according to the documents. The complaints state that Cesar and Norelia knowingly entered the U. S. “approximately 1.22 miles west of the Paso del Norte Port of Entry” on Oct. 13, 2022.
A Times search of court records found no other criminal charges associated with Cesar and Norelia.
Living in the U. S. without lawful status is a civil offense, not a crime. But improper entry is a criminal statute under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Those convicted can be fined or jailed for six months. A subsequent offense is a felony and can result in two years of jail time.
The first Trump administration relied on the statute to execute its “zero tolerance” policy that resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the southern border. Parents were charged with illegal entry and detained after being caught entering the U. S., while children were separately placed in federal custody and foster care.
Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International who is assisting with the couple’s case, said she and other advocates have heard of a few cases since Trump returned to office of people with pending asylum claims or temporary legal protections being detained by immigration agents. Fischer said she expects to see more people targeted for deportation who have active protections in the coming weeks and months.
But the cases of Cesar and Norelia, Fischer said, are unprecedented.
” Everybody is very concerned about this”, she said. ” We’re really seeing it as the first of this type of case”.
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