Jesús Garcia with his daughter, Layla, before being arrested by ICE in August. Courtesy photo

NASHUA – For the past three months, 21-year-old Gabileisy Garcia Mareno has been struggling just to get through each day.

Her 25-year-old husband, Jesús, came to the U.S. in July 2021 seeking asylum from a life of violence in his home country of Peru.

“He never missed a single immigration court hearing and always followed the legal process,” said Garcia Moreno, adding that Jesús’ final asylum court hearing was scheduled for 2029.

On Aug. 1, he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was taken to the Strafford County Department of Corrections, nearly 60 miles away in Dover.

“To this day, we still don’t understand why ICE decided to arrest him when his asylum case was still pending,” said Garcia Mareno. “We were never given a clear explanation that we could understand.”

Gabileisy Garcia Mareno with her husband, Jesús, and their daughter, Layla, before Jesús was arrested by ICE in August. Courtesy photo

His arrest accelerated the court proceedings dramatically and Jesús’ asylum petition was denied on Oct. 8. He now has until Nov. 30 to return to Peru.

“I am currently trying to coordinate his voluntary departure while dealing with an extremely difficult financial and emotional situation,” said Garcia Moreno, adding that she is also responsible for paying for his flight back to Peru.

Since August, Garcia Moreno has been on her own raising their 10-month-old daughter, Layla, while working full-time with special needs children.

“I am trying my absolute best to stay strong for my daughter, but the reality is that I am overwhelmed,” she said.

She said she and Jesús have been together since 2023. They were married on Oct. 13 in Burlington, Mass. despite Jesús being in custody.

“It wasn’t a traditional wedding or anything like we had imagined. It was just Jesús, the reverend and me,” said Garcia Mareno. “We didn’t have our family or friends there to celebrate with us, but despite everything we were going through, it was still such a beautiful and special moment for both of us.”

Surviving on one income, Garcia Moreno said she has borrowed more than $12,000 to pay for an immigration attorney. She is now in danger of losing her car, is three months behind on her rent and is barely able to afford Layla’s daycare tuition. To alleviate her financial burden, Garcia Moreno has created a GoFundMe page at https://gofund.me/93c543396.

“I never imagined that at 21 years old, I would be facing so many responsibilities while also dealing with postpartum depression and the possibility of being separated from my husband for an extended period of time,” she said. “One of the most heartbreaking parts of this situation is watching my daughter grow up without her father. She was only seven months old when he was detained and he has missed so many important moments of her life.”

To make matters worse, on Nov. 6, she was notified that Jesús was taken from the Strafford County Department of Corrections. The jail said he was released; however, ICE still had him listed as being in custody.

“I’ve been calling everywhere trying to find out where my husband is, but nobody has been able to tell me his current location,” said Garcia Moreno. “It breaks my heart knowing what he is going through, I’m extremely worried about him.”

According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, as of July, 65,765 people were held at ICE detention centers across the nation. Within that figure, 70 percent of them have no criminal convictions.