Bolivian Asylum Seeker Faces Deportation to Congo Amid Legal Battles and ICE Detention

José Yugar-Cruz, a Bolivian asylum seeker who won legal protection from torture in his homeland, is caught in the cruel machinery of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Instead of safety, he faces indefinite detention and deportation—not back to Bolivia, where his life is at risk, but to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country he fears and has no ties to.

Yugar-Cruz crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in July 2024 and immediately sought asylum, surrendering to authorities. An immigration judge recognized the torture he endured in Bolivia and ordered a halt to his removal in December 2024. Yet ICE held him in custody unlawfully for over a year and a half, until a federal judge mandated his release in January 2026.

The Department of Homeland Security’s response was to seize him again in April 2026 during a routine ICE check-in in Cedar Rapids. Under a Trump administration deal, Congo agreed to accept immigrants the U.S. sought to deport, and Yugar-Cruz was included on that list despite his protests and legal challenges.

“This government is interfering with my process. They want to deport me to the Congo,” Yugar-Cruz said in a recorded message played to a rally of over 100 supporters outside ICE’s Cedar Rapids office. “I came to this country to ask for protection, and I won protection against torture.”

Community organizations like Escucha Mi Voz Iowa and Conversations With Friends have rallied behind Yugar-Cruz, helping him file motions for habeas corpus and fighting to keep him from being sent to a foreign country where he has no support and fears for his safety.

A federal judge initially granted a temporary stay of deportation, but later lifted it citing Supreme Court rulings in similar cases. Now Yugar-Cruz remains detained at the Linn County Detention Center, his future uncertain.

This case starkly illustrates the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration policies: prioritizing deportation over justice and safety, especially for immigrants from south of the border. Yugar-Cruz is no criminal. He is a man who refused to be complicit in drug trafficking in Bolivia and sought refuge here, only to be caught in a system that punishes him for it.

As the administration doubles down on its harsh immigration enforcement, Yugar-Cruz’s fight is emblematic of the broader struggle for humane treatment and accountability. We will keep watching and reporting on his case and others like it until justice is served.