Esteban Hernandez left Cuba on March 10, 1962, en route to Kingston Jamaica as a political exile. Upon his arrival in Miami on April 13, 1962, he opened an envelope with a red wax seal which he received from the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica, which included his immigration papers and lawful permanent residency card. He promptly made a home in Washington, D.C. and has considered himself an American ever since.

On May 29, 1992, Esteban was charged with a minor drug offense and served a short sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix. Upon his release from prison in 1995, legacy Immigration & Naturalization Services ("INS") issued Esteban a Notice to Appear in Immigration Court proceedings, but no hearing date was ever set, and he never received a final deportation order. Additionally, he was allowed to renew his greencard for a period of 10 years. Therefore, Esteban returned to his family and his job, determined to live a better life.

In 2006, after 10 years passed, Esteban appeared at the local Arlington Immigration Office to have his lawful permanent residency card renewed and was given a sticker to put on back of the card with a one year extension. When he reappeared, his card was renewed for a brief 6 month period. However, much to his surprise, when he next visited in late June of 2008, Esteban was detained, his residency card confiscated, along with his permit of reentry and papers from the United States Embassy in Jamaica. Esteban was given no explanation for his detention.

Through a referral by a Holland & Knight attorney, Esteban's daughter in-law contacted the Community Services Team (CST) in July of 2008. Frantically, she relayed the story of Esteban to a CST Team Member. During this phone call, CST also discovers that Esteban was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and was scheduled to have surgery early in August. The family feared for his life if he were unable to have surgery. Over the next two months, CST made countless calls to all the local detention officers attempting to obtain information about Esteban's detention. Liz visited Winchester Detention Facility and met with Esteban, but was still uncertain as to the circumstances of his detention.

Determined to have him released, CST Senior Counsel, Christopher Nugent prepared a lengthy request to the Detention and Removal Office requesting his release from detention based on humanitarian concerns and his imminent prostate surgery. A few weeks before, the Washington Post ran a series of articles on medical treatment of detainees while in detention which raised awareness regarding the lack of adequate care of detainees; the two cited from this series extensively.

Numerous calls, faxes, and emails were unreturned, until early on Friday morning, August 1, 2008, when Liz was able to connect with the Detained Docket Officer, who promised to look into the case and review the request. As the hour grew later, CST feared the request would be denied. At the close of business, the Officer was still "looking into the case" but promised an answer. By 8:00 pm, arrangements were being made for Esteban's release the following day. Esteban was released from detention on August 2, 2008, after two months. Two weeks later, he was able to undergo a robotic prostatectomy. He continues to recover from surgery, and his prognosis looks good.

Though Esteban is still deportable, as a Cuban, he will remain in the United States under an order of supervision because the United States does not have a repatriation agreement with Cuba. Now that he has recovered, CST continues to assist Esteban in obtaining work authorization.

Holland + Knight Community Services Team

Holland & Knight LLP

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