Update: ICE delayed Allan Marrero’s release by filing an intent to appeal the judge’s decision to grant bond. ICE has 10 days to appeal the ruling, otherwise Marrero will be released.
Shouts of joy echoed on the fourth floor of Middle Collegiate Church as news reached churchgoers that a judge had decided to free fellow parishioner Allan Marrero from immigration detention on Tuesday.
Allan Marrero, who arrived in the U.S. from the Cayman Islands in 2013 on a visa, was detained by ICE just days before Thanksgiving when he and his husband Matthew went to 26 Federal Plaza for their marriage-based green card interview. That day had ended in tears for the New York couple, but after months of fighting, today Allan got to smile and breathe an enormous sigh of relief from inside a Mississippi detention center where he has been held for the past few weeks.
Bond was posted immediately after the four-minute proceeding for the Brooklyn resident. His lawyer says that he could be released as early as Tuesday evening.
Allan Marrero’s husband, Matthew — who had been eagerly waiting in a hotel room near the Adams County Correctional Center in Nachez, Mississippi — told Documented that he felt a rush of relief.
“I started to cry,” said Matthew Marrero. “I can only compare it to if you’re holding something heavy for a really long time, and you finally get to put it down in that moment.”
A marriage torn apart by ICE
Matthew Marrero traveled over a thousand miles from New York to Mississippi on the singular hope of finally being able to see his husband freed after spending nearly three months in immigration detention centers in at least five states, including Florida’s infamous Alligator Alcatraz.
In November, the newlyweds were separated when Allan was arrested inside the 26 Federal Plaza building following his interview for a green card. Theirs was one of the first of a growing number of public cases of U.S. citizen-immigrant couples to be torn apart after their interview for a marriage-based green card.
When the two arrived at court just days before Thanksgiving, they were unaware that Allan Marrero had a removal order in his name for missing a court date in his asylum case. The letter with the court date had been sent while he was living at a rehabilitation facility.
Allan’s arrest and his husband’s fervent and sustained calls for justice attracted a growing chorus of demands for his freedom — from friends, family, and fellow churchgoers to city politicians and even members of congress.
While in detention, Allan Marrero was a victim of homophobic harassment and medical neglect, his family and lawyer told Documented.
Months after he was arrested, a New York immigration judge agreed to open his case after seeing evidence that Allan had not been aware of the asylum hearing date — which then opened up the possibility for a bond hearing for his release. The bond hearing took place on Tuesday morning.
Praying for release
As the 10:30 a.m. bond hearing drew near, a dozen of the couple’s supporters sat in plastic chairs inside the Manhattan church, they clutched their hands together and spoke in hushed tones as they waited for word of Allan’s fate.
Suddenly, Rev. Amanda Hambrick — who had initially accompanied the couple to 26 Federal Plaza — cried out: “He got bond!” Tears filled her eyes.
Sandra Santana, who has known Matthew Marrero for nearly a decade and sings in the church choir with him, smiled wide and clapped with the crowd before collapsing into the arms of her fellow parishioners. Her face was stained with happy tears. Before the decision came down, she said she was feeling anxious. Over the past weeks she had been sending Matthew “love notes” and hoping that the messages reached his husband as well.
After the news, she softly cried and told Documented that she felt happy.
“I just want to hug them, let them know that I love them always. Hopefully just share in their joy with them,” she said. “These are tears of joy,” she said with a laugh.
Santana and the crowd called Matthew Marrero and the couple’s lawyer Alexandra Rizio — who’s also the supervising attorney at Make the Road New York — to celebrate.
“He was great,” Rizio said over FaceTime. “He looked very strong and composed and very just strong, and that gave me strength, and hopefully I gave him some strength back. And oh, my God, it all worked!”
Holding on to hope in the Magnolia State
Hours after the court victory, Matthew Marrero told Documented that when he arrived in Mississippi he was enamored by the green trees overlooking the Mississippi River — each branch coated with ice, hanging like glimmering jewels after the cold snap that had struck the South. He took their beauty and resilience as a good omen.
At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, he was awakened after receiving a call from his husband with the news that they were moving him into the room where he would eventually need to wait three hours to be presented to court.
In solidarity, Matthew Marrero got breakfast and dressed up in a lilac button-down shirt, a dark sweater vest, and deep purple eyeglasses. He patiently waited to be let into the courtroom virtually.
Suddenly, text messages began pouring in from their lawyer. First, Matthew Marrero read that he would not be allowed into the Zoom. Then, he was told that things were looking positive. Finally he got the message he had been waiting for: “YES BOND,” exclaimed Rizio over text message. “$6000”.
“OMG,” wrote Marrero back. “Ok what do we do now? How fast can I get him???”
Celebratory text messages exchanged between Allan Marrero’s attorney Alexandra Rizio, his husband Matthew Marrero and Reverend Amanda Hambrick.
After FaceTiming with his supporters back in Manhattan, Matthew Marrero immediately got multiple calls from his husband, who was still in detention. They both laughed and cried, he said.
“I love you so much. Thank you for being here for me, you’re my unicorn,” Matthew Marrero recalled his husband saying over the phone. “You used your magic.”
“You know, I believe that, yes, but also the magic also came from our entire community and just the outpouring of love and support that we have gotten,” Matthew Marrero told Documented.
Immediately after the proceeding, Allan Marrero’s $6,000 bond was posted. Now, they just have to wait for the bond to process — potentially on Tuesday or Wednesday, said Rizio. Then Matthew Marrero will be able to finally drive his husband home.
The decision to free Allan took all but four minutes in court, Rizio said — a decision she called fair and right. It was a hopeful moment, she said.
However, she said, she had also witnessed a hearing right before Allan Marrero’s of a man with Temporary Protected Status. He had no lawyer, and she recalled that he was flabbergasted that he had been arrested at the airport after traveling with permission from the government.
“I also want to reiterate that, like they’re just thousands upon thousands of people who are in detention who arguably shouldn’t be, it’s unclear whether they’re really going to get the due process that they deserve,” said Rizio.
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你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
For the Marreros, their next step is clear: to try again for a green card and cement Allan Marrero’s permanent residency in this country.
Matthew Marrero said that when he visited his husband the previous day, one of the guards expressed his disgust — not only with the killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota at the hands of Border Patrol but also with the treatment of the immigrants in their care.
“That gave me a spark of hope for humanity,” said Matthew Marrero. “And so then this morning, I got ready, waited for the call, and now I’m just sitting here in my hotel room anxiously waiting for the green light to go get him.”
