Hunter
08/05/25
Elected officials and clergy are expected to accompany five immigrant families at their ICE Check-ins this morning at the same location where a West Liberty man was detained and deported last month.
The plight of Pascual Pedro caught the attention of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who posted on social media, “Pascual Pedro, a former high school soccer star with no criminal record, was suddenly deported at a routine immigration check-in. Unacceptable. We can’t destroy families who have lived in this country peacefully.”
According to a release from the advocacy group Escucha Mi Voz, they will be in Cedar Rapids for the families’ 7:30am scheduled appointments. Expected to join them are Iowa State Senator Molly Donahue, State Representatives Angel Ramirez and Jeff Cooling, Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague, Iowa City Councilors Shawn Harmsen, Oliver Weilein, and Joshua Moe, Johnson County Supervisors Jon Green and Mandi Remington, Catholic, Methodist, Unitarian, and UCC clergy, Iowa Catholic Workers, and affected immigrant families.
U.S. border agents have been directed to stop deporting migrants under President Trump’s ban on asylum claims, following a federal court order that said the measure could not be used to completely suspend humanitarian protections for asylum-seekers. Customs and Border Protection officials received instructions to process migrants through different mechanisms, including through a fast-track deportation procedure known as expedited removal.