The federal government has upped its efforts to deport a Western Massachusetts father who has a pending visa application for alleged labor trafficking.
Juan David Quichimbo, originally from Ecuador, has been in Plymouth’s ICE detention facility for nearly two months. Quichimbo, a Springfield resident, has no criminal record, but is in removal proceedings anyway.
“The Trump administration, they have taken a hard stance that they essentially do not care that there is humanitarian relief pending,” said his attorney Elizabeth Shaw in a phone interview.
On Monday, the government filed a motion to transfer Quichimbo with intent to deport. On Wednesday, Federal Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. held a status conference in which he ended the court’s ban on the government moving Quichimbo out of state or deporting him, saying that he hadn’t met the burden to show he was entitled to keep the temporary ban in place, and the court lacked jurisdiction to continue it further.
Shaw filed a motion in a second case of Quinchimbo’s in federal court related to his T-visa, essentially asking for the adjudication of the part of his T-visa application what would keep him in the country legally while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services assesses the whole application.
Federal Judge Brian Murphy issued a temporary restraining order banning ICE from moving Quichimbo, until further notice.
The Assistant U.S. Attorney has filed a motion to dissolve that, accusing plaintiffs of judge shopping. The office declined to comment on the case.
Shaw said Quichimbo should be released to his family and his T-visa case should be considered, which is the normal flow of things.
“From the moment that they stepped into the United States, they have been diligently pursuing their relief from removal and. He has never had any sort of interaction with any law enforcement, not even like a minor driving infraction such as speeding,” she said.
Quichimbo was last before an immigration judge in 2023, when he was denied asylum. His attorney in New York at the time failed to order an appeal notice in the proper time frame. Shaw said his prior attorney “didn’t do a good job of developing the record,” including not providing basic documents like birth or marriage certificates to the court.
At a routine immigration meeting in November, Quichimbo’s family received notice that they needed to self-deport via a sticky note. A decision by a federal judge allowed them to remain.
But barely a week later, he was detained at a weekly appointment with ICE at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office in Burlington.
“It’s been two weeks that I was especially bad, with the depression, the not sleeping,” said Mirian Ximena Abarca Tixe, Quichimbo’s wife. The two try to speak every night on the phone. “He’s not well… he doesn’t eat much, he doesn’t sleep much… but he wrote me and said he will get stronger and we will wait to see what happens. I pray he gets out soon.”
She was detained by ICE in August during a check-in as well, has no criminal record, and was released following a court order in November.
Abarca Tixe said their 7-year-old daughter Camila has changed as a result of the detention, and that she has been working to get her a therapist.
“My daughter was a cheerful girl. She played, she ran. Now she’s quiet, sad, doesn’t want to go to school... she doesn’t sleep much, and says that her chest hurts. She asks when her father will come home.”
