A Guatemalan immigrant woman hugged her husband, who was being held by ICE, and encouraged him to “cheer up.” That was the last time she saw him alive.
Grief, grief and responsibility: Widow says ICE failed to detain husband
A Guatemalan widow shared hugs, tickles and words of encouragement: “Cheer up.” That was the last time she saw him alive while in ICE custody.
Santa Eulalia, Guatemala – An altar in Lucía Pedro’s modest home. I pay tribute to my husband of 25 years.
There are candles and a photo of Francisco Gaspar Cristóbal Andres surrounded by vases of white daisies and calla lilies. A banner on a nearby wall depicts him with outstretched arms and Jesus on his shoulders.
She and Cristobal Andres left their childhood home and built a life together in Homewood, Florida, where they owned a daycare center and raised five daughters. He sent money to his parents and built a concrete house where his memories are now enshrined.
However, although they paid American taxes, they could not become citizens.
On his way to the grocery store on Labor Day, he was stopped by the Florida Highway Patrol and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after failing to provide documentation.
Pedro Juan expected to be deported to the home he hadn’t seen in more than 18 years. She expected Cristobal Andrés to be with her.
Instead, he became statistically one of at least 30 people to die in ICE custody this year.
He died of liver and kidney failure on Dec. 3, one week after turning 48, according to an ICE news release.th birthday. ICE officials said Cristóbal Andres had been suffering from medical problems since being taken into custody. Pedro Juan claims to have been in good health before being detained.
Now, she is waiting to see him again after his family raised funds to bring his body home.
The couple last saw each other on September 1st when he was taken into custody. The security guard took fingerprints and ordered the two to stay apart.
A tearful Pedro Juan ignored him.
“I broke up like that, but I had the strength to go to him because I was so courageous,” Pedro Juan said. “And I hugged him, tickled his ribs and kissed him on the cheek.”
“Cheer up, Papi,” she told him.
“It’s okay, Mami. You should be well, too,” Cristobal Andres replied.
“It’s in Texas that we suffered.”
The pair were initially held in Florida, then flew to Texas and were among the first to be held at Camp East Montana in El Paso.
“Texas is where we suffered,” Pedro Juan said.
As of Dec. 1, nearly 3,000 men and women were being held at the Camp East Montana detention facility, according to the office of El Paso Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar.
When the camp opened, the Trump administration announced it would only hold detainees for up to five days. However, Pedro Juan was detained there for nearly three months.
She said the treatment in El Paso was cruel, the conditions so dirty that the women became sick. “We asked them to bring brooms, but they didn’t bring them,” she said.
Human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Escobar have also expressed concern about the detention center and the death of Cristóbal Andrés.
“This type of detention only accelerates the harm, and it is very unfortunate that this man has passed away,” Marisa Limón Garza, president of the El Paso-based immigrant rights group Las Americas, said at a news conference on December 12. “I am confident that this will not be the last (death in the facility).”
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, described allegations of abuse in ICE custody as “fear-mongering clickbait.” McLaughlin also said immigrants are allowed access to lawyers and family members and are provided dietitian-approved meals.
“Never in the history of human civilization has lawbreakers been treated as favorably as illegal aliens in the United States,” McLaughlin said. “Hold on tight.”
But Pedro Juan said guards were mocking detainees in English, treating them like animals.
“That’s what happens when you’re a donkey,” she remembers the guards saying. They also called the detainees pigs and told them they were feeding them dog food. The insults came from security guards whose parents were immigrants like us.
“I don’t understand why you treat us this way,” she told them.
She said she repeatedly begged to see her husband, who was being held in another part of the same facility.
“I cried and told them, ‘Please, I need to talk to my husband. My heart is breaking,'” she said, crying again as she recounted the incident. “They didn’t say anything. They didn’t even say, ‘Wait a minute,’ or ‘Let me check.'” Nothing. “Visits are prohibited.”
“Continuous and high quality” medical care
ICE officials said in a Dec. 5 news release that Cristobal Andres has received medical attention since the day he was taken into custody.
“From the moment we were informed of his health crisis, ICE medical staff ensured that he received continued quality care,” officials said.
Officials said he received treatment for alcoholism several days after being detained.
Cristobal Andres sought medical attention at the El Paso facility on September 27, October 2, October 9, November 3, and November 13 for various symptoms, including dizziness, flu-like symptoms, bleeding gums, sore throat, and body aches. He was also being treated for a fever, cough, swelling in his left leg and high blood pressure, ICE said in a news release about his death.
According to call records provided to the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, through a Freedom of Information Act request to the city of El Paso, a 911 call was received from an ICE detention center on Nov. 16 for a “47-year-old suffering from low blood pressure and swelling in his legs.”
He was taken to Providence East Campus Hospital, where medical staff diagnosed him with hyponatremia, or dangerously low salt levels in his bloodstream. He was placed on the liver transplant list and underwent dialysis and palliative care towards the end of November.
After 93 days in his custody, Cristóbal Andres was pronounced dead of liver and kidney failure, according to an ICE report.
Pedro Juan said he was shocked by the severity of his condition. She said her husband occasionally drank with friends on the weekends and was unaware of any pre-existing health conditions.
“About a year ago, we took him to the doctor,” said Pedro Juan. “He never complained to us. Even when he was sick, he never said anything.”
She blames his health problems and death on detention.
The story of a typical hard-working immigrant
Cristóbal Andrés, like many other residents of the highland town, came to the United States in 2002 in search of work. Pedro Juan and his four daughters joined him in Miami in 2007.
“I went with him after a lot of hardship in my life,” she explained. “(Guatemala) doesn’t have enough money.”
Over the years, their four oldest daughters married men from El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. Their youngest daughter was born in Florida in 2010 and became a US citizen.
Pedro Juan had been growing plants in the nursery for eight years.
“Then my husband and I started our own small business,” she said. “I was very close to him. We were always together.”
The pair invested in their own business, Lucy Nursery, bought tractors and other machinery and paid taxes.
They attended two Catholic churches over the years, and Lucy Nursery provided the churches with poinsettias for their Christmas celebrations.
Cristóbal Andrés was detained by immigration authorities in 2017. The family hired a lawyer and paid him $15,000 to have him released so they could pursue an immigration case, Pedro Juan said. She thought they were following all the rules.
“He was going to go to court, he was going to do whatever the requirements required, and we were working and struggling to support our families,” said Pedro Juan, who completed his formal education at the equivalent of third grade. “And we never imagined we would be going through the situation that we are going through right now.”
he wanted to provide a better life for his family
Maria Andres remembers when her eldest son, Cristóbal Andres, left for the United States. He wanted to give his family a better life.
“I’m going to look for opportunities, and I want to help you,” the 68-year-old man told her through an interpreter in his native Q’anjob’al language.
She had 15 children, but only seven survived. Of these, Cristobal Andres is the third to lose in the past 10 years.
“I want to see my son,” Andres said.
Cristóbal Andrés’ body is scheduled to arrive in Santa Eulalia on December 29th, allowing his family to give him a proper Catholic burial in his hometown.
Meanwhile, Pedro Juan worries about the daughters he left behind in America and struggles to adjust to being an outsider in his homeland. A lot has changed since she left.
She calls her suffering and her husband’s death an American tragedy.
She stressed that her family was not here to harm the United States. They were not criminals who needed to be wiped off the streets by the Trump administration.
“I hope that the government and the ICE agents who detained us will understand that we are providing labor to the world,” said Pedro Juan.
The widow described her husband as a man who loved his family deeply and worked hard to provide for them.
“He was very hardworking,” said Pedro Juan. “May God give him peace.”
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times. Contact details are as follows: jdabbott@usatodayco.com. @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or Bluesky @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social.
