Public officials, family members, and faith leaders are urging ICE to immediately release Ernesto Cuevas Enciso, a former DACA recipient, father of a young infant, and husband to a U.S. citizen wife on bond pending his immigration hearing this month. Ernesto was following the legal process and working on his permanent residency. He has legal work authorization and has been taking care of his family.
Ernesto was brought to the United States of America from Mexico at the young age of three, along with his younger sister. He was previously a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient. He is a construction worker and a married man with a loving U.S. citizen wife and one year old child. America is the only country he can truly call home. His only trouble with the law was more than a decade ago for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses (minor in possession and operating while impaired) – mistakes he made as a young man.
Ernesto has work authorization, has a Michigan driver’s license, has a pending application for Legal Permanent Resident status, and has been following the immigration process just as our country encourages immigrants to do.
On December 6, 2025, Ernesto and another construction worker were near their workplace in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached them and they were arrested.
“Like me, Ernesto was brought to the United States as a young child,” said Miriam Stone, Ernesto’s sister. “He married Andrea, U.S. born Citizen, in May 2023 and has been working with their attorney to adjust his status. He has a valid Michigan State Driver’s License, a work-authorization card, and an accompanying Social Security Number. He works hard to support his wife and daughter. He was followed, stopped and detained while driving to work. On Thanksgiving, together in prayer we gave thanks that the adjustment of his legal status is pending but hopefully nearing. We do not take being in the U.S. for granted and pray that he is able to come back home.”
“Ernesto is a hard working immigrant man who cares for his family and has been attempting to follow our nation’s pathway to become a green card holder,” said Sen. Chang (D-Detroit). “He deserves to be home with his wife and young child, not held in detention while awaiting his hearing. We urge ICE to release Ernesto on bond and to ensure that he is not deported to Mexico. Ripping apart hardworking families and removing a good father does nothing to solve actual problems in our community. Ernesto deserves to remain home in Detroit with his family and to continue contributing to our state.”
“Our families are being torn apart,” said Congresswoman Tlaib (D-Detroit). “Ernesto was doing what was right and following the legal process. Instead of allowing him to remain with his family and new baby, ICE is housing him 3.5 hours away at a for profit detention center that was a former federal prison that closed down because of abuses. Ernesto and many immigrant neighbors are being used as political pawns and financial gain and it must stop.”
“In Detroit, we believe in keeping families together and ensuring every person—regardless of immigration status—is treated with dignity and afforded due process,” said Detroit City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero (District 6). “Detaining Ernesto runs afoul of this. It does not advance public safety and heightens fear among immigrant residents who are following the rules, thereby undermining trust in our institutions. Further, it harms a family that depends on him. As someone who grew up as an immigrant and has also called this country home since childhood, I know firsthand the fear, uncertainty, and disruption that actions like this create. What is happening to Ernesto is unjust and inhumane. ICE must release Ernesto immediately so he can return home to care for his wife and baby and fully participate in his hearing as he continues pursuing permanent residency in the only country he has ever known.”
“The detention and threat of deportation of Mr. Cuevas is a travesty, especially when he is in the midst of the long process of obtaining legal permanent status,” said Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor). “Snatching him from his family and community when he is gainfully employed and contributing to his family, community and state is the exact opposite of what this country should stand for. Mr. Cuevas should be allowed to remain at home with his wife and infant and continue his path to citizenship.”
“The residents I represent have made it clear that they do not want our beautifully diverse community to be a danger zone, and a place where ICE is allowed to terrorize people who live, work, learn, and play in Ypsilanti,” said Desiraé Simmons, Ypsilanti Council Member of Ward 3. “I join the calls of his family for his safe return and to allow him to continue working through the legal process at home.”
“Throughout the Torah or 5 Books of Moses (a shared text) we are reminded again and again we were once strangers in a land not our own and we have a responsibility to have compassion for those in similar situations today,” said Rabbi Matt Zerwekh of Temple Emanu-El. “My people and my own family would have faced a different fate had it not been for this country being a welcoming land of immigrants. It is unconscionable that Ernesto would be treated this way and is antithetical to my faith and against upon what our country was founded.”
“Ernesto left home Saturday morning for work, but he did not come home that night,” said Rabbi Alana Alpert of Congregation T’chiyah. “His wife, Andrea, and daughter, Mia, now worry if and when he will be back home with them. Until he is released, Andrea has to carry on alone regardless of the fact that they have a pending Legal Permanent Residency case with USCIS. We pray that this family be reunited.”
A group of elected officials sent a letter to ICE on December 7 urging Ernesto’s release. The letter was signed by Senator Stephanie Chang, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Detroit City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero, Senator Erika Geiss, Senator Mary Cavanagh, Senator Jeff Irwin, Representative Jimmie Wilson and Representative Veronica Paiz. The letter can be viewed at https://bit.ly/4oF4Ktb.
