Maryland pastor returns home a month after being detained by ICE agents
A Maryland pastor is back home with his family almost a month after he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who said he overstayed his visa by 25 years.
Daniel Fuentes Espinal, 54, was granted bond and released from an ICE detention center in Louisiana, according to family friend Len Foxwell.
"Pastor Fuentes Espinal and his family are together again for the first time since that terrible morning of July 21, when a pastor and father of three said goodbye to his wife and children, left for work, and never came home," Foxwell said in a social media post on Thursday.
Foxwell says Fuentes Espinal's family and his congregation at Iglesia Del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama are thrilled to have him back. He says the family will continue working to secure the pastor a green card.
"Pillar of our community"
"Pastor Fuentes Espinal is a pillar of our community," Foxwell said. "He has been here for 24 years, has never been charged with a crime, and more importantly, he's been the moral and spiritual center of a tight-knit community on the Eastern Shore."
Foxwell said the community raised money to help the family with legal and travel expenses as they fought for his release. Fuentes Espinal's oldest daughter flew down to Louisiana to get him and they were home in Easton by Friday night.
"I'm just very happy and my heart is full," daughter Clarissa Fuentes Diaz said in a video to the community. "Thank you so much and may God bless you."
Maryland pastor detained by ICE
The Easton, Maryland, community rallied in support of Fuentes Espinal after he was detained in July while on his way to work.
Fuentes Espinal is a pastor at Iglesia Del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama and a construction worker. He has lived in the U.S. since 2001 and does not have a criminal record, according to Foxwell.
Foxwell said Fuentes Espinal's family has been working for years to secure a green card for him.
According to ICE, Fuentes Espinal, a Honduran national, "entered the United States on a 6-month visa and never left in 24 years."
"It is a federal crime to overstay the authorized period of time granted under a visitor's visa," an ICE spokesperson said.
Pastor Fuentes Espinal's detainment
After his arrest, Fuentes Espinal was taken to a detention center in Salisbury before he was transferred to a facility in Baltimore, then to the Winn Correctional Facility in Louisiana.
Foxwell said Fuentes Espinal described deplorable conditions during his three-night stay at the detention center in Baltimore before he was transferred to the facility in Louisiana.
"He spent three days at a detention center in Baltimore, sleeping on a cold bench with barely enough food to eat," Foxwell said. "He didn't have a shower, he didn't have a sink of his own, he didn't have a toilet... He didn't even have a bed to sleep on."
Foxwell said Fuentes Espinal had little contact with his family while he was detained.
"They actually charge $50 for a phone call for a family that's already lost their primary breadwinner. That's a huge financial hit," he said.
Maryland leaders, protesters show support
Shortly after his arrest, activists in Baltimore rallied in support of Fuentes Espinal.
"People are leading into that hate, but we can't be doing that anymore. It is too late at this point in the game to hate, and I am imploring everybody to come out here and love instead," said Annalese Estepp, who attended the march that ended near Baltimore ICE's detention center in the George H. Fallon federal building.
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen also offered support, saying his team was working with the Fuentes Espinal family.
