Upstate Medical University employees Alex Gonzalez and his husband Yan Vazquez returned to work in Syracuse Monday, four months after Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested the couple on their way to attend a scheduled immigration hearing.
In a news conference held Friday, the couple spoke through an interpreter about the moment they were seized on October 29th.
"He said they did everything the right way," she relayed, "They received their documents. They've received their permission to be here. They even attended some sort of immigration school that they had to go through. So, they've done everything correct. They haven't broken any laws.”
Nevertheless, agents took them to the Batavia detention center, then separated them 11 days after they arrived, and prepared twice to send them to Ecuador, a country neither is from.
As Upstate Hospital workers, both men have the support and attention of their union and colleagues. While an attorney successfully argued for their supervised release on bond early last week, Gonzalez said there are many other detainees at the center who are not as fortunate.
“A lot of people that are in there don’t have the same support to fight their cases," Gonzalez said through his interpreter, "The pro bono lawyers they’re so overwhelmed and swamped that they tell [detainees], ‘No sorry, we can’t really help you.’”
Both men are out on bond, although Gonzalez’s judge ordered him to wear an ankle bracelet. In the meantime, they will continue fight deportation orders to Ecuador.
