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Angel Angel-Becerril, 22, speaks out about his 27-year-old brother’s detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His brother, Joel Angel-Becerril, had DACA status and is being held without opportunity for a bond hearing during deportation proceedings. The ACLU Nebraska has filed a lawsuit. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — With his oldest brother detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 22-year-old Angel Angel-Becerril has stepped up as family breadwinner and comforter to his younger siblings.
Often before his toddler-aged brother goes to bed, Angel said the boy turns to him.
“He’ll say, ‘I miss Joel,’” Angel said Friday, as he spoke about his older brother’s pending deportation case. “I tell him that everything is going to turn out okay.”
But he said that while he remains hopeful, the household anxiety rises as 27-year-old Joel Angel-Becerril remains in ICE custody awaiting possible removal to Mexico, a country he hasn’t lived in since he was 5 years old.
ACLU Nebraska filed a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking his release or the opportunity for a bond hearing, both of which the feds have denied. The denial is based upon a new interpretation of the law and an ICE policy change that asserts nearly all detained immigrants are ineligible for release on bond during deportation proceedings.
Federal officials have not responded to a request for comment from the Examiner.
Angel-Becerril has no criminal convictions, said ACLU attorney Grant Friedman. Douglas County Court records show a choking-related assault charge last summer. Friedman said ICE agents picked up his client from Douglas County custody on Dec. 2 immediately after the charge was dismissed, and transported him to Sarpy County, where he is listed as being on an ICE hold.
Meanwhile, Angel said he is trying to help his mom pay the bills and care for his two younger brothers who, like him, are U.S. citizens who have lived all their lives in Omaha.
DACA recipient detained, denied bond hearing by ICE; ACLU Nebraska files suit
It’s a situation playing out not just in Nebraska but across the country as a ramped-up deportation strategy employed by the Trump administration impacts numerous mixed-status families, where some members of the family are vulnerable to deportation and others have legal status.
Angel said he wanted to speak out on his brother’s behalf. He said he and the younger brothers were used to Joel getting off of work and coming with food and good humor: “Our house feels more empty. He’s a good brother.”
Though Angel has a birth certificate as proof of his U.S. citizenship, he said he still gets uneasy about his own fate and how that might further impact the family.
“The way my skin color is, I don’t feel safe,” he said, looking up from a bench in an Omaha park.” I feel like I can still be questioned. … It’s ridiculous.”
His brother’s case brought immigration enforcement to a new level in Nebraska, as Joel Angel-Becerril is a DACA recipient and the ACLU believes this is their first immigration detention case involving a DACA recipient in the state.
Like its name suggests, the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program was designed to defer, or offer temporary protection against deportation, for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as youths.
Angel said he had thought the DACA program, initiated in 2012 and now on shaky legal ground, provided protection from deportation. “Him not being with us, it’s hard.”
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