ICE deported Pascual Pedro Pedro, a 20-year-old resident of West Liberty, on Monday.
Pedro came to the United States from Guatemala with his father when he was 13 years old. He lived with his grandparents, who have been in the U.S. for over 30 years, and attended West Liberty High School, where he was a standout on the school’s soccer team. After graduating last year, Pedro received a work permit with the help of an attorney, and began working at a siding firm owned by his grandfather.
Pedro has never been accused of a crime, or any anti-social behavior.
“Pascual is a kind, humble young man who came to this country seeking safety and a better life,” Father Guillermo Treviño of St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty said in a statement after Pedro was seized by ICE agents on July 1. Treviño knows Pedro well. He’s not just his parish priest, he’s also Pedro’s godfather.
Treviño called ICE’s unexpected seizure of Pedro “not just a legal issue” but said it’s also “a moral crisis.”
Pedro’s father was deported shortly after they arrived in the U.S. seven years ago, but Pedro was allowed to remain under an order of supervised release that required him to check in with ICE once a year. He was at his annual check-in when ICE detained him. Pedro was first sent to the Muscatine County Jail, and was later transferred to the notorious ICE detention facility at Pine Prairie, Louisiana.
Pedro’s attorney headed to ICE’s regional headquarters in Omaha to file a Stay of Removal petition on Monday, but by then it was too late.
“A Stay of Removal motion was filed in Omaha this morning, apparently about the same time [Pedro’s] deportation flight landed in Guatemala,” Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, a nonprofit that advocates for and assists immigrants, said in a news release on Monday afternoon.
Neither Pedro’s family nor his attorney had heard from since Saturday, until he called his family from Guatemala City on Monday morning.
Escucha Mi Voz has been organizing vigils on behalf of Pedro since ICE took him into custody. The group is holding two rallies this week to protest what has happened to Pedro and demand his return.
On Wednesday at 10 a.m., there will be a “Bring Him Back Now” rally in front of the ICE field office in Cedar Rapids (3351 S Square D Dr SW). The rally is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
On Thursday, the protest moves to Davenport, in front of the downtown building where Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Sen. Joni Ernst and Sen. Chuck Grassley have offices (201 W 2nd St). The rally is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
Escucha Mi Voz has chartered buses for people who need transportation to the Davenport rally. A bus will leave from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Iowa City (4330 St. Patrick Dr) at noon on Thursday. At St. Joseph’s in West Liberty (107 W 6th St), the departure time will be 12:30 p.m.
“This is a travesty. There was no due process,” Father Treviño said after the news of Pedro’s deportation broke, “and our message is bring him back now.”
