Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by one of the Tribuno’s first summer intern, Jackie Cruz.
On July 1st, what would have been an annual check-in at immigration enforcement in Cedar Rapids turned into Pascual Leonardo Pedro-Pedro’s worst nightmare. When he was about 13 years old, Pedro-Pedro immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala alongside his father. Although given an official order of expedited removal at the time, he was allowed to remain in the U.S. under special supervision. This required a yearly check-in meeting to make sure he was abiding the terms of his supervision and obeying the law, both of which he was. Pedro is a beloved community member, a high school graduate, a church member, a soccer player and coach, and a hard worker for his grandfather’s roofing business. Pedro-Pedro has never received so much as a speeding ticket in the seven years he has been in the U.S.
During his annual check-in, ICE officials first removed Pedro-Pedro’s order for supervision, which ultimately left him extremely vulnerable to deportation due to his existing order for expedited removal when he first arrived as a teenager. He was immediately transported to Muscatine County Jail. Muscatine LULAC Council 371 delivered two statements, one to the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Department and a second to ICE Chief Counsel, Jim Stolley, and Peter J. Berg, Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations. Both statements pleaded for the immediate release of Pascual Leonardo Pedro-Pedro, urging that his continued detention undermines the community’s trust as well as conflicts with ICE’s own stated priorities on focusing on individuals who do pose a genuine threat to public safety. That same evening, about 75 people, including community members, two priests, youth, and religious leaders, gathered in prayer outside the Muscatine County Jail.
Pedro-Pedro’s lawyer stated that ICE did not give a reason for his arrest, and the Muscatine County Jail operator confirmed Pedro-Pedro had been booked on immigration related charges. Over the weekend, he began working on an application for a stay request and to pause the deportation proceedings. Due to the holiday, it became time critical to deliver the application. On Monday morning, a member of Escucha mi Voz hand-delivered the application to an immigration customs office in Omaha, NE, but by then it was too late. The activist organization became aware that Pedro was deported to Guatemala City as he had called his family after what felt like years of not hearing from him. He was deported less than a week after being detained.
A community shattered and heartbroken, only ignited their fire to keep bringing awareness to his case and demand justice for Pasucal Leonardo Pedro-Pedro. This past Wednesday, approximately 150 community members gathered in protest outside the ICE office in Cedar Rapids. On Thursday, more than 200 community members took the fight to the offices of Senator Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, and Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Davenport.
Pedro-Pedro’s detainment and immediate deportation to Guatemala raise questions that maybe we, as people of the U.S., are afraid of the answers. How does a young 20-year-old, a beloved community member, with no criminal record, suddenly get detained and deported? The hypocrisy of ICE and the Trump administration is particularly profound in this case. Pedro-Pedro had no due process, no trial, and no sense of fairness at all. After Pedro-Pedro’s graduation last year, his family hired a lawyer and paid about $1,500 to renew his work permit, which they have yet to receive. Indeed, Pedro-Pedro and his family were actively trying to do everything the legal way, by following the law. So it would have been a crime for him to miss his annual meeting, yet it became a crime to attend? The “expedited removal” process enables ICE officers to issue deportation orders without judicial oversight—a total and complete, fundamentally unconstitutional procedure. The 14th Amendment addresses the equal protection of the law, prohibiting states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law.
Additionally, this amendment includes the Equal Protection Clause, emphasizing equal treatment for all citizens. ICE blatantly ignored the human rights of Pascual Pedro and rejected him from being protected under these clauses, as lies and misleading statements were made by Iowa Senators and Representatives. On July 9th, Senator Joni Ernst disgracefully equated Pedro-Pedro to fentanyl dealers and blamed the Biden administration for their failure to allow “illegal” immigrants. Pedro immigrated to the U.S. under Trump’s first term in 2018 and has no criminal record. On July 10th, Senator Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Radio Iowa, “I make law. I don’t enforce the law.” He knows full well he has oversight powers and influence to pressure the administration to restore justice directly. He lacks the care and humanity to do so. Following Grassley’s statement, Rep. Ashley Hinson from Marion defended Pedro-Pedro’s deportation and stated, “he had due process.” Another lie told by Iowa’s representatives, as Pedro was given an “expedited removal” and no basic legal protections.
How can we trust Iowa’s representatives to do right by us? When no humanity was spared for Pedro-Pedro and his family? A young adult with a bright future who was actively involved in their community, a community that rallied and is still standing behind him, deported to a country he hardly remembers? The immigrant community in Iowa and all across the country will continue to suffer if our politicians continue to hide behind hollow rhetoric. Iowans deserve better. Iowans deserve a representative who will prioritize education, community, and family values. Not those who value their pockets above human lives and their dignity.
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