A Durham-based family of four has been deported to Honduras after being detained by federal immigration officials. The family includes parents Nelson Ramon Espinoza Sierra and Dacia Mariela Pacheco Galindo and their children, Genesis Elizabeth Espinoza Pacheco, 11, and Denis Daniel Espinoza Pacheco, 6, who attended Burton Elementary Magnet School.
The family had travelled to Charlotte Monday for a routine check-in with immigration officials when they were detained and deported, said Andreina Malki, Siembra NC’s defense manager. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that the family was deported on Wednesday.
At a press conference Thursday, Siembra NC and a group of Durham elected officials condemned the family’s deportation and called on Durham residents to support the family.
“This overreach of federal law and enforcement around immigration is impacting us all,” said Bettina Umstead, chair of the Durham Board of Education. “This is tragic.”
The family is from Honduras. Since arriving in North Carolina four years ago, the family had been attending similar appointments regularly, Malki said.
They had no criminal record, she added.
“Genesis and Denis’s family was doing exactly what the system asked of them,” said Malki. “They were showing up, fulfilling their legal obligations as they seek refuge, and in response, ICE detains them, denies them due process, and takes them from our community.”
On Monday, Dacia’s sister Lilian went with the family to the immigration appointment. Lilian, who attended the press conference, said she was waiting in her car in the parking lot when she received a call from a federal official telling her that the family had been detained.
The family’s phones were confiscated, Malki said.
Relatives did not know the family’s whereabouts until Wednesday night, when Lilian received a call from her sister saying the family had been deported to Honduras, she added.
Neither Lilian nor Siembra NC have heard from the family since Wednesday, Malki said.
At the gathering, Mika Twietmeyer, president of the Durham Association of Educators, read a statement on behalf of Genesis’s fifth grade teacher, Brandon Daniel.
“Genesis is an important part of our classroom and school community. She is a giving little girl who leads in her heart,” the statement said. “We’re lost without her. We miss her smile. We miss her laughter. We miss her tremendously.”
On Thursday, State Senator Sophia Chitlik pledged that she, along with other elected officials, would accompany immigrants to their immigration hearings as detentions at routine check-ins become more common. She also called for more transparency about the frequency of ICE detentions and deportations, and about the conditions at federal detention centers.
“We might not be able to stop what is happening, but we can expose it, and we can call on the transparency that our law necessitates,” said Chitlik. “We will be witnesses, and to the extent possible, we will document what is happening, and we will help provide rapid response assistance.”
She also emphasized the importance of working with local support networks for immigrant communities, and increasing pressure on state officials to condemn ICE.
“We need to put pressure on [legislators] to do the right thing,” Chitlik said in an interview. “We can use our voice to get actors who are able to move the needle more powerfully in this political dystopia to speak out.”
Nida Allam, chair of the Durham county commissioners, expressed anger about the family’s treatment.
“I’m furious. This isn’t about keeping our community safe, this is just about terror and tearing up our families,” Allam said in an interview. “As an elected official, I believe that we have a duty to stand up for our most vulnerable community members when they’re targeted like this.”
A spokesman for ICE released a statement Thursday stating that the family entered the U.S. illegally in 2021, and that a judge issued an order for their removal after they failed to attend an immigration hearing.
The statement also said that the family had no pending asylum claims or immigration applications.
On Friday, Siembra NC contested several of those claims. In a statement, advocates argued that the family had faithfully attended appointments with immigration officials as part of an active asylum case, and that the family had no knowledge of any missed appointment or that they faced risk of deportation.
The ICE spokesperson also stated that the family received full due process before they were deported.
Advocates said family members were denied access to their phones, rendering them unable to contact family members or legal counsel.
Siembra NC created a GoFundMe account on behalf of the family and is collecting donations for them as they restart their lives in Honduras. The fundraiser has raised $22,000 since it was set up on Thursday afternoon.
“They were deported with none of their belongings, nothing but the clothes on their backs,” said Malki. “They’re now trying to rebuild their lives from the ground up.”
Above: Andreina Malki, Siembra NC’s defense manager, speaks as other Siembra NC members hold up photos of the two recently deported Durham elementary school students. Photo by Halle Vazquez — The 9th Street Journal
Halle Vazquez
