A devastated Pennsylvania family has spoken out demanding the release of Jesus Teran, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker who was arrested at an immigration check-in earlier this month.
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Teran’s aunt, Yasmily Luft, told The Independent of her nephew, who was reportedly detained after a July 8 check-in at the Pittsburgh field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Teran fled violence in Venezuela and came to the U.S. seeking asylum in 2021, joining his family in the town of Imperial, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh.
Though he had training as a civil engineer, Teran initially lacked English skills and worked at convenience stores, DoorDash, and as a carpenter’s apprentice to provide for his wife, Liseth Carvajal, and their children, Kamila, 14, and Lukas, 5.
“Everyone is devastated, especially his daughter,” Luft added.
“[Carvajal] is home alone with the kids,” she continued. “At the moment, she is not working. He was the one providing for the family and working.”
Community members said Teran was a dedicated churchgoer who helped spruce up a community garden in the hopes of bringing together members of different English- and Spanish-speaking churches in the area.
“It’s been a heartbreaking experience. He’s been faithfully appearing at ICE appointments for more than four years, he was following the protocols of ICE, he was complying with everything he’s supposed to do. All of a sudden, he’s detained,” Rev. Jay Donahue of St. Oscar Romero Parish, where Teran’s family are members, told the local Observer-Reporter newspaper this month. “Jesus is not someone who should be subjected to this undignified experience that he’s going through. It’s a shame the way they are treating him; it is inhumane. It’s been inspiring to see the community rally around Jesus and to recognize what he means to our community.”
Chris McAneny, director of housing for the nonprofit Wellness Collective, added in an interview with the paper that Teran delivers food to the needy. The Venezuelan, he said, is “the neighbor that everyone would want.”
Church members and participants in a local construction union have been calling for Teran’s release, and a GoFundMe for his family has raised over $5,000.
“With Jesus in detention and his uncertain future, his wife Liseth Carvajal, and their two children, Kamila and Lukas are in need of help,” the page reads.
Luft, Teran’s aunt, said she does not know where the 35-year-old is being detained.
The Independent has contacted the Pittsburgh ICE office for comment on the case and Teran’s present status.
Since Donald Trump took office, immigration officials have been increasingly making arrests at sensitive locations like courthouses, immigration offices, and health facilities.
The Trump administration’s One Big, Beautiful Bill spending legislation gives ICE roughly $45 billion in new detention funding over the next four years, as well as massively increasing the agency’s operations budget.
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