An Apopka couple from Guatemala with a pending application for a crime-victim visa have been denied their request to delay -- or stay -- their deportations, their attorney said.
The husband was detained during a routine Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in in Orlando last week.
Now, the four U.S. citizen children of Esvin Juarez and Rosemari Miranda are pleading on TikTok for help from President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
@dolmanjuarez Please help to share and repost. President Trump. Please help us show that you are not coming after the law abiding, hardworking parents of US Citizens, who have been in the US for over 20 years and have a solution to their immigration status. #fypシ #parati @Juarez (Pony🐴🐴🐴) @Kari G ⚓️🖤 @Carlos_Eduardo_Espina @yesenia la chapina👑🐇❤️ @Noticias Telemundo @Telemundo51Miami @Univision @Univision Miami @WESH 2 News @🔪🐃neryposter🐃🔪🤎🪬 ♬ sonido original - Dolman Juarez 🐴🐴🐴🇬🇹
"We ask your help urgently to right this wrong," the eldest daughter, 21-year-old Beverly Juarez said in the video posted Friday morning. "My father is a business owner, a taxpayer, and he is not a criminal. We beg for your help."
An earlier video from the family received millions of views on social media.
Juarez has a concrete company -- Juarez Brothers Construction Corp. -- in Apopka. The family business employs about 10 people.
And though the couple entered the U.S. illegally 24 years ago, they had work permits and were pursuing that “U visa” for immigrant victims of crime who cooperate with law enforcement, according to their attorney, Grisel Ybarra of Miami. Last year, they got the initial finding from ICE that their application was valid, and they’ve been waiting for the visa to be issued.
Esvin had been violently assaulted in his company’s work yard in 2021 and was cooperating with the Apopka Police Department.
Ybarra learned Friday morning that Juarez's application for a stay -- or pause -- of deportation had been denied. In a text, she said Juarez spoke with his wife over the phone Thursday night and told her he was on a list to be deported this week.
Juarez, who was detained during the ICE appointment on Friday, is in a detention center in El Paso, Texas, Ybarra said.
Miranda delivered an airplane ticket to an ICE office in Orlando on Wednesday. Ybarra said she is likely to be picked up for deportation, as well.
As for information about Juarez's case, an ICE spokesman responded by email, saying: "We will not be releasing any information on this individual at this time."
