The community is calling on federal immigration enforcement to release a man they say was following the law in seeking permanent residency status.
Ernesto Cuevas Enciso, 34, remains in detention after being followed, stopped and detained while driving to work, his family says.
Local officials are urging ICE to immediately release Cuevas Ensico, a construction worker and the father of a one year old child with his wife, a U.S. citizen.
He’s one of a number of Detroit residents lawamkers, faith leaders and pro-immigration advocates who are currently being detained by federal immigration agents, including four students.
Advocates are asking community members to show up to the Tuesday, Dec. 9 DPSCD board meeting at Martin Luther King High School to call on Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and the school board to make a statement condemning the arrest of four students advocates say are in ICE custody.
Cuevas Enciso was a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a U.S. immigration policy designed to provide work authorization and temporary protection from deportation for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.
The provision isn’t a permanent legal status DACA is not a permanent legal status but rather an exercise of prosecutorial discretion that the US government — across both political parties — has supported for decades to protect many young immigrants from detention and deportation.
Both political parties have supported protections against deportations for young immigrants until now, advocates say.
Christine Sauvé, the communications director for the Michigan Immigration Rights Center, told Michigan Chronicle on Monday that President Donald Trump’s administration is implementing policies intended to increase people’s suffering.
“We’re seeing people arrested while awaiting green cards,” Sauvé said. “Where in the past when individuals had pending immigration applications for asylum or green card, ICE wouldn’t arrest and detain that individual; they would wait to see the outcome of the application. That has changed. We are now seeing people with pending applications or deferred action status be deported.”
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin recently told NBC News earlier this year that “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” warning DACA recipients may be detained and deported.
Advocates in Metro Detroit say Enciso was following the legal process and working on his permanent residency. He has legal work authorization and is raising a family after he was brought to the United States from Mexico at three years old with his younger sister.
Advocates said his only trouble with the law was more than a decade ago for minor in possession and operating while impaired.
Cuevas Ensico has work authorization, has a Michigan driver’s license, has a pending application for Legal Permanent Resident status, and has been following the immigration process just as our country encourages immigrants to do.
On December 6, 2025, Cuevas Ensico and another construction worker were near their workplace in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached them and they were arrested.
“Like me, Ernesto was brought to the United States as a young child,” Miriam Stone, Ernesto’s sister, said in a statement. “He has a valid Michigan State Driver’s License, a work-authorization card, and an accompanying Social Security number.”
Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, said Ensico had attempted to follow the legal pathway to become a green card holder.
He is currently being detained at a for-profit detention center near Baldwin, Michigan. The facility is a former federal prison that was shut down for three years. The reopening of the 1,800-bed private prison owned by Florida-based GEO Group after securing a contract with ICE, is another effect of Trump’s victory. During his campaign, he promised voters the largest mass deportation operation in the history of the country.
“(Cuevas Enciso) deserves to be home with his wife and young child, not held in detention while awaiting his hearing. We urge ICE to release Ernesto on bond and to ensure that he is not deported to Mexico. Ripping apart hardworking families and removing a good father does nothing to solve actual problems in our community. Ernesto deserves to remain home in Detroit with his family and to continue contributing to our state.”
State Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, criticized Cuevas Enciso’s arrest in a statement, calling his detention a travesty.
“Snatching him from his family and community when he is gainfully employed and contributing to his family, community and state is the exact opposite of what this country should stand for. Mr. Cuevas should be allowed to remain at home with his wife and infant and continue his path to citizenship.”
City council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero represents Detroit’s largest immigrant community in Southwest Detroit, where residents have reported an increased presence of ICE patrols and CPB squad cars.
Since Trump became president again in January, Santiago-Romero has used her social media to spread awareness of immigration raids throughout her community and across the city.
“In Detroit, we believe in keeping families together and ensuring every person—regardless of immigration status—is treated with dignity and afforded due process,” Santiago-Romero said. “Detaining Ernesto runs afoul of this. It does not advance public safety and heightens fear among immigrant residents who are following the rules, thereby undermining trust in our institutions. Further, it harms a family that depends on him.”
A group of elected officials sent a letter to ICE on December 7 urging Ernesto’s release. The letter was signed by Senator Stephanie Chang, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Detroit City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero, Senator Erika Geiss, Senator Mary Cavanagh, Senator Jeff Irwin, Representative Jimmie Wilson and Representative Veronica Paiz. The letter can be viewed here.
Last month, two 16-year-old Detroit cousins arrested at their home in November by federal immigration agents. The teens are being held in Texas, according to reports from Outlier Media and Chalkbeat.
The cousins were taken into custody along with two of their parents when agents raided their home on the eastside in search of a different migrant, the outlets report.
They have work permits and jobs at Chili’s, said Kristen Schoettle, a teacher at Western International High School who works with one of the teens in an English class for newcomers.
Another student that has been detained enrolled at DPCD schools after recieving help from advocates with the African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs, a Detroit nonprofit.
That group says he has an affirmative asylyum application and has a hearing in April, 2026, but is currently detained at the facility near Baldwin.
Teachers describe him as respectful, disciplined and a leader, advocates say.
“The latest attack on our community has broken my heart yet again,” Santiago-Romero said in a statement late last month. “Attacking innocent, defenseless youth is unconscionable — it’s inexusable. I join the calls of Detroit teachers, friends, family, and community members to immediately bring our two Western International High School students back from Texas to Michigan as they continue their asylum process.”
A group of elected officials sent a letter to ICE on December 7 urging Ernesto’s release. The letter was signed by Chang, Sanitago-Romero, Geiss, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford, Senator Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, Reps. Jimmie Wilson, D-Ypsilanti and Veronica Paiz, D-Harper Woods.
