Bolivian immigrant wants to help others, may have dodged deportation back home via Congo
José Yugar-Cruz might have escaped being sent from Congo back to Bolivia, where his life is in danger
José Yugar-Cruz, a Bolivian immigrant jailed for 20 months while facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation to Congo, said he wants to help other immigrants avoid the ordeal he has experienced.
It could have been worse but Yugar-Cruz, 36, avoided the deportation when he was released from custody May 27.
Congo, where Yugar-Cruz never has been, has no ties and cannot speak the language. Ebola is running rampant there, as is rebel crime.
Now, in a cruel twist the Associated Press reported on Friday, June 5, that more than half of the 15 Latin Americans the Trump administration deported to Congo in April have been sent from there to their countries of origin.
Yugar-Cruz might have been saved from being sent back to Bolivia, where immigration judges said his life would be in danger because he did not break the law. Where he crossed drug dealers by refusing to do their bidding.
Yo quiero quedarme aquí en Estados Unidos porque tengo una familia que se escucha mi voz. Y la verdad, yo no me voy a rendir. Voy a seguir luchando por mi caso. Yo tengo fe en que va a mejorar esta situación. No veo un cambio, yo tengo esa fe. Y voy a seguir recibiendo apoyo. Escucha Mi Voz y que regreses viendo una nueva familia que está allí.
“I want to stay here in the United States because I have a family here at Escucha Mi Voz,” Yugar-Cruz said in Spanish, referring to the Iowa City-area group eastern Iowa immigrants founded in order to support each other.
“And the truth is, I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep fighting for my case. I have faith that this situation will improve. Even though I don’t see a change right now, I still have that faith. And I will continue receiving support. They hear my voice, and when I return, I see a new family that is there for me.”
You have heard about this case. It has been national news because of how bizarre it sounds. Yugar-Cruz is living at Iowa City’s Catholic Workers House as he works through immigration court in his bid to stay in the United States. He said he has purpose with Escucha Mi Voz.
I caught up with him at an Escucha Mi Voz information session at Coralville United Methodist Church the night of Thursday, June 4. He was gracious with his time, which plenty of people want after he his long overdue release from custody during an ongoing asylum process this country should not put someone through.
Yugar-Cruz said he is working on speaking English but, with the help of a translator and A.I., I was able to put together his quotes en español and English. This was helpful, as I often point out to Spanish speakers, porque mi español es muy malo — my Spanish is very bad.
Yugar-Cruz said he is serious about letting people know about his ordeal.
Para ayudar a los inmigrantes, contando toda mi historia que pasé y por toda la ayuda que recibí por parte de Escucha Mi Voz y todo lo que luché y pasé, para que tengan una experiencia y un paso como iguales actuales trabajando con mi historia.
“To help immigrants, by sharing my whole story — everything I went through — and all the help I received from Escucha Mi Voz, and everything I fought for and endured, so that they can have an experience and a path as equals, working with my story as it is today.”
More than 250 people showed up Tuesday, June 2, to give visible support to Yugar-Cruz and three other immigrant families at check-ins at ICE’s Cedar Rapids office. This is common at the office when immigrants go to check-ins. On this particular day, all four families were released and returned to their Iowa homes.
THE ORDEAL: BOLIVIA TO MEXICO TO ARIZONA TO JAIL
Yugar-Cruz crossed into Arizona from Mexico in July 2024 and won an immigration judge’s order in December 2024 to hold off on being sent back to Bolivia. The judge said Yugar-Cruz had been subjected to torture there for refusing to help drug traffickers at a small store he ran and likely would be tortured if sent back.
“I committed no crime,” he said in one of his attempts to use his English skills when we talked.
He has done everything by the book since coming into the United States, starting with surrendering immediately to law enforcement officials. But Donald Trump became president, and Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration policies kicked in during January 2025 before Yugar-Cruz was released from custody.
RELATED: AMERICA IS DEPORTING MIGRANTS TO COUNTRIES THEY’VE NEVER BEEN TO, by Lauren Wolfe
RELATED: THE END OF IMMIGRATION, by Paul Krugman
Yugar-Cruz originally was detained in Arizona, then was sent to Mississippi, then to the Freeborn County Adult Detention Center in Albert Lea, Minnesota, before being moved to the Muscatine County Jail. Escucha Mi Voz got involved in his case in an effort started by a Minnesota group called Conversations With Friends.
A federal judge ordered in January that he be released from the Muscatine County Jail but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s ICE responded by saying he would be deported to Congo. The Trump administration has a deal for Congo to take immigrants removed from the United States.
This is where the Associated Press story becomes a concern. Alma David, an attorney from the United States who represents one of the deportees, told AP the Congolese government plans to keep the Latin American deportees for a short period before shipping them to their home counties. David said U.S. judges have issued legal protection orders that shield the deportees from being returned home, AP reported.
Despite the January order for his release, ICE took Yugar-Cruz into custody again on April 8, 2026. It happened when he went to what he thought would be a routine check-in in Cedar Rapids. He was held at the Linn County Detention Center, where supporters rallied in late April for his release.
His lifeline keeping him from Congo and possibly Bolivia started with a temporary stay of deportation. A federal judge ruled in late April that U.S. Supreme Court rulings in similar cases in other states tied the judge’s hands, forcing the judge to lift the stay. But public pressure in his case appeared to work when authorities released Yugar-Cruz before his successful June 2 check-in.
RELATED: NO DEPORTATION DATE FOR BOLIVIAN IMMIGRANT TABBED FOR THE CONFO, by Lyle Muller
RELATED: MIGRATION ISN’T A PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED.” AMELIA FRANK-VITALE ON BORDERS, CARAVANS, AND THE BANAL CIOLENCE OF DEPORTATION, by Austin Kocher
THE NEW IMMIGRATION RIGHTS WORLD
Yugar-Cruz still has an immigration process to get through, but at least he has a fighting chance now.
He cannot work at this point while fighting to stay in the United States, he said.
Yo la verdad, siempre me ha pasado muy voluntario hasta quería, tal vez, formar parte de... Bueno, mi sueño en mi país era siempre ayudar a los bomberos, pasé por los bomberos y aquí vi que me gustó los equipos, cómo trabajan.
“Honestly, I’ve always been very willing to volunteer. I even thought about maybe becoming part of… well, in my home country my dream was always to help firefighters. I spent time with firefighters before, and here I realized I really like the teams and how they work.”
Immigration lawyer Raziel Argueta told about 60 people at the June 4 informational session that the Trump administration has hired several new judges to move cases through the system. Cases are being moved up, and some judges are less willing than others to continue cases or grant change-of-venue requests, said Argueta, of the Argueta and Gomez LLP law firm in Des Moines.
Moreover, ICE is willing to acknowledge that immigrants seeking U.S. asylum are in danger if sent back to their home countries while still seeking to send them back, he said. “Missing a hearing, deadline or notice can have serious consequences,” he said.
I have written about this before, but Escucha Mi Voz has been mischaracterized by Donald Trump followers. U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson wrote in a February 2026 Facebook post that it was “masquerading as a nonprofit” and questioned its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. She is wrong. Learn more here.
Yo les invitar a que se unan al grupo Escucha Mi Voz para levantar la voz y ser un grupo más grande, porque mientras más grande es el grupo, la unión hace la fuerza. Y la verdad, si nos organizamos podemos ganar este resultado.
“I invite you to join the group Escucha Mi Voz so that we can raise our voices and become a larger group, because the larger the group, the stronger we are,” Yugar-Cruz said. “The truth is that if we organize ourselves, we can achieve this outcome.”
OBSERVER LEGAL TRAINING IN NORTH LIBERTY
For those reading this before the next event, Escucha Mi Voz is to host a Saturday, June 13, training on the legal rights supporters have when observing ICE check-ins. Training is to start at 2 p.m. in North Liberty’s Recreation Center. People who attend will learn “how to safely document ICE and police activity, accompany immigrant families, and protect our communities,” an Escucha Mi Voz announcement states. Here is a site to RSVP for training.
Lyle Muller is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Check out some of the collaborative’s most recent reporting in this week’s summary. And order his book about an Iowa United Methodist Church’s attempts to wrestle with controversies since its 1841 founding.
