When an immigration judge agreed it was dangerous for Jose Melvin Gonzalez to be deported to his home country of El Salvador, he thought he would be getting released from a detention center right away.
Gonzalez won his immigration case back in April. Since then, his claim was appealed by ICE and he remains in a facility in Pennsylvania, some 2,000 miles away from his wife and four kids in California.
"Once you get granted relief, it's like they finally see what you're telling them is true, that your life really is at risk," he said. "But then they keep your life on hold and there's so much uncertainty with what may happen or when I may get back to my family."
The 45-year-old is one of the many individuals held in custody for months, or even years, after winning their immigration cases. Oftentimes, they are told they have to wait in detention centers while immigration officials appeal the judge's decision or search for a third country to deport them to.
But immigration attorneys say ICE appeals are often not approved and third-country deportations rarely materialize — simply delaying immigrants' release from detention.
On Tuesday, 80 immigrant rights groups and legal service providers sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement urging the immediate release of immigrants who have won their cases. The letter states that those individuals should be allowed to return to their communities even if ICE continues to pursue deportation. The signers argue that prolonged detention causes prolonged suffering.
"While that happens, community members can’t restart their life, missing birthdays, holidays, and all the days in between with their children and loved ones," said Trevor Kosmo, an attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, one of several organizations that wrote the letter.
The decisions behind a person's release from ICE detention are case by case. A spokesperson for ICE said the agency’s main priority is to "protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws."
In Jose Melvin Gonzalez's case, he was granted protection under the U.N. Convention against Torture (CAT), which bars the U.S. from both using torture directly and deporting people to other countries where they will likely be tortured.
Unlike asylum claims, CAT protection does not provide a legal pathway to citizenship. It puts immigrants in a weird bind where a judge ruled it is not safe for them to be deported to their home country but did not explicitly grant them legal status here in the U.S. Still, immigration attorneys say there is no reason to keep immigrants detained, adding that ICE has tools to monitor people beyond detention, like routine mandatory check-ins.
"If you win fear-based protection, in the vast majority of situations, you are going to eventually be released. So why not be released right away?" said Gonzalez's attorney Austin Rose, who is with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and helped draft the letter.
Gonzalez and his family fled to the U.S. when he was 8 years old amid El Salvador's civil war. He was a green-card holder, but was deported in his 30s after getting caught helping a friend deal drugs. When he arrived in El Salvador in 2015, Gonzalez said, police officers threatened to put him in the country's notorious prisons. Fearing for his life, Gonzalez illegally returned to Los Angeles. He lived in hiding for six years until he got caught and was put back in ICE custody last year.
It's been five months since he won CAT protection. Gonzalez said the entire legal battle has worn him out mentally. His only strength has been the thought of reuniting with his family.
"Every day here counts," he said. "Sitting here, it's another day where I can't do anything. I can't do things for my kids, I can't help them with their homework. I can't support my wife."
Rigoberto Hernandez Martinez, 26, from Mexico still remembers the gut punch he felt when he learned he would not be going home right away. After he won CAT protection, he said, ICE officials were looking for another country to deport him to. The thought of being taken to an unfamiliar country caused him to spiral.
"I couldn't sleep. I was up all night," he said. "Crazy thoughts crossed my mind, like should I just close my eyes and never wake up?"
Hernandez Martinez grew up in the U.S. from the time he was around 8 years old. He was arrested at 19 for throwing an empty beer can at someone while drunk. After serving prison time for being convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, he was taken to ICE custody, where he was detained for nearly two years. He was granted CAT protection in August of 2023 and released two months later.
Since then, he has enrolled in college in Monterey County, California, and has been working as an interpreter. Despite CAT protection, he is still not eligible for a green card or any other legal pathways toward citizenship.
"You still live in fear because it is not a guarantee that you will stay here forever," he said. "But this is where my heart is at. This is where I want to see my children be born in, the land of opportunities and because it's safe."
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