Jesus Peraza, the Honduran who was picked up by immigration agents after he dropped off his son at Hampstead Hill Academy last March, will be forced to leave the country.
The notice came Tuesday in a letter to Jared Jaskot, Peraza's lawyer, from John Alderman, the deputy field director in Baltimore for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Alderman wrote that he could “not find a compelling reason” to allow Peraza, who has been in the U.S. for more than a decade, to stay.
Peraza, a 30-year-old father of three, and with another baby due this month, fled Honduras after witnessing a murder when he was 17 and having his own life threatened. He was held at the U.S. border and turned away, but got into the country illegally on his second try and joined his brother in Baltimore.
He has lived here without incident until the day he was picked up by ICE agents. He has been held in the Howard County Detention Center since then.
Jaskot pleaded with immigration officials last week to allow Peraza to stay, but to no avail.
"They don’t care if you haven’t committed any crimes," he complained Tuesday. "If you have a family, if you have kids. They don’t care about any of that."
Peraza is likely to be deported immediately, just days before his wife is due to deliver their baby.