Outside of East Village’s Middle Collegiate Church on Dec. 9, Rev. Amanda Ashcraft and attorneys led a press conference to discuss the unexpected detaining of Allan Dabrio Marrero, a beloved member of the church who is now in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Marrero, a gay man from the Cayman Islands, has resided in the United States for over a decade while seeking asylum based on his LGBTQ+ identity. In 2023, he married Matthew Marrero, and they filed their own immigration paperwork. Just days before Thanksgiving, they attended a marriage-based green card interview at 26 Federal Plaza, a New York City government building that houses the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office.
Speaking at the press conference, Matthew shakily recounted this meeting, saying they brought their pastor Amanda for emotional support, along with an entire binder full of the immigration documents needed for this meeting. He recalls being nervous because of the political climate, but confident that they were well prepared.
“The interview was cold and hostile — the officer was rude, dismissive, and wouldn’t even allow me to look at my husband as I recounted our love story,” Matthew said. “We were blindsided when the officer announced that my husband [Allan] had supposedly missed a hearing in December 2022, and that a judge had ordered him removed.”
This was the first time either of them had heard of such a hearing. Matthew noted that Allan has always been meticulous with his immigration documents and has never intentionally missed a meeting. In 2019, Allan had a meeting scheduled that was postponed, and to Allan’s knowledge, this meeting was never rescheduled, but the immigration officer revealed that it had been.
According to Matthew, in the years following this postponed hearing, Allan dealt with the loss of his grandmother, a shoulder injury, COVID, and a struggle with alcoholism.
“During that exact month [in 2022] of the alleged missed hearing, he was in a long-term rehabilitation center trying to save his own life — he could not have known about it,” Matthew said.
At the end of the interview, the officer told them that while their marriage petition was approved, she could not move forward with the green-card application because of the missed hearing. She told them, however, that if they immediately sought legal counsel, they could safely leave the building. She even told them to “have a great day.”
But the moment they stepped outside, the couple was met by ICE agents, who detained Allan on the spot.
Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of LGBTQ+ and HIV positive immigrants, noted that many LGBTQ immigrants have faced a harsh reality under the Trump administration.
“A lot of what the Trump administration seems to be focused on is not efficient, fair adjudication of claims,” Crawford said in an interview with Gay City News. “It seems to be focused on eliminating the claims altogether and preventing people from making them, or quickly dispensing with them without due process.”
Crawford says this prevention effort has been carried out in multiple ways. Many individuals in immigration detention facilities, for example, have incredibly strong cases, but cannot make the initial claim because of a multitude of laws and policies that have been passed. Additionally, the administration has made many changes in the immigration courts themselves by removing more than one-third of immigration judges, according to Crawford, resulting in around three million cases being backlogged.
These policies have invoked fear among many immigrants who are concerned their cases will not be heard fairly. They also worry about showing up for their case and getting sent to detention centers, like Allan, despite following all the proper procedures.
In pursuance of justice and bringing Allan home, Make the Road New York, a local non-profit advocacy group that works to support immigrants, filed a motion to reopen his old deportation case, which automatically stayed his deportation.
Alexandra Rizio, Allan’s attorney, spoke at the press conference, noting that she was “astounded” when she heard about this case, given how careful and “by the book” he was.
She asserted that the case should have never unfolded the way it did, noting that if the United States had an immigration system that cared about humanity and dignity, the officer would have simply conducted the routine marriage exam, explained the missed hearing issue, and advised them to get a lawyer.
“Instead,” Rizio said, “this officer immediately handed Allan over to ICE.”
Matthew, with the support of attorneys, Middle Church, and Make the Road New York, is tirelessly fighting for Allan’s return. Allan’s anxiety and depression medication has not been administered properly, Matthew said. It took a week for him to receive a towel and socks, and he has had multiple homophobic slurs hurled his way, according to Matthew.
“We are human, we deserve humanity, and my husband deserves to come home,” Matthew said.
