Free…for Awhile

Part Two of ICE Detention Ordeal of a Jockey from Venezuela

On Valentine’s Day, 2019, Eduard Rojas Fernandez walked out of the Baker County, Florida, ICE Detention Center, free…for awhile…to await the hearing on his asylum request.

On January 23, just as the populist revolt began in Venezuela, clouds had begun to lift for Rojas, as well. Smerdon, his attorney, received a succinct email: C.F. Pos. The USCIS official had determined his fear of persecution in Venezuela was credible.

In Venezuela, January 23 is the anniversary of the 1958 overthrow of the Pérez Jiménez dictatorship. Now it will also be remembered as the day Juan Guaidó, head of the National Assembly, declared himself acting president, and set off massive protests against President Nicolás Maduro.

A week later, Rojas learned he had received the important classification as “not arrived alien.” If he had been labeled an “arriving alien,” he would not have been eligible for release and would have been set up for expedited removal.

On February 1, Rojas arrived at Baker County facility, after a stop for a day in Georgia. The minute his feet hit the ground, his attorney Bonnie Smerdon filed for a bond hearing for release. “He had been shuffled so many places that I had to catch him before they moved again,” she explained.

For the first time in five months, he sounded happy when he called his girlfriend Karen Gentry Norton. “I laughed so hard, I cried,” she wrote on Facebook.

“He was telling me how he had always wanted to go to Florida. Of course, he never thought he’d be touring the United States through the detention centers. He wanted to see what other states he has missed. He had imagined visiting these states by riding at their racetracks. He told me to find him a detention center close to Oaklawn Park [racetrack]. He always wanted to visit Oaklawn.

“He can laugh again. Thank you Lord. I think it will be ok now.”

Wednesday, February 13 dawned grey and drizzly in Orlando. Fortunately, a roof overhang protected the dozens of people waiting outside to go through security at Immigration Court. Once inside they went to the second floor and scanned long lists of names on the wall for the correct courtroom.

Norton, Smerdon and paralegal Ellie Milanes didn’t have to wait long. Their case was second on the docket in Courtroom 6.

When Rojas appeared on the screen, the camera angle made him seem to be sitting in a tunnel. Judge Daniel Lippman had a number of questions, which the court translator put in Spanish:

“Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

Rojas: “No.”

“Do you have family in the United States?”

Rojas: “No.”

“Where is your family?”

Rojas: “Venezuela”

“Do you own property in the United States?”

Rojas: “No.”

“Where do you live?”

Rojas: “In California.”

When Lippman inquired about his profession, Smerdon explained that Rojas had been pursuing the P1 visa.

The young woman U.S. Attorney asked Rojas what happened at the border.

This time, Rojas answered at length, explaining he was in the car, got out, and in the trunk.

Lippman asked about disobeying immigration rules.

“They ordered him in the trunk,” Smerdon said.

Somewhat satisfied, Lippman set his bond at $12,000.

The three women went for coffee, and Norton called a bail bond company. She spent the afternoon trying to raise money. A short term loan from a friend finally covered the last few thousand dollars.

On Saturday, February 15, Norton and Rojas finally returned home in Pasadena, and Rojas kissed Tucker, his little white dog, for the first time in five and a half months.

In October, he is scheduled to return to Orlando for his asylum hearing, expected to be before Lippman.

Lippman granted 27.4 percent of 372 asylum requests FY 2013–2018. TRAC doesn’t report each judge’s record by nationality. However, in Orlando over the past 15 years, 52 percent of Venezuelans were granted asylum, the highest among the five countries with the largest number of applicants. Colombia was next, with 51 percent granted. However, Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala applicants had far less success, and only 8 percent of applicants from Honduras were granted asylum.

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