Detained asylum-seeker sends message to supporters

A detained Bolivian immigrant awaiting deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo shared a message with his supporters ahead of a rally to call for his release.

José Yugar-Cruz shared an audio message from detention, released and translated from Spanish to English by immigration group Escucha Mi Voz Iowa. He thanked his supporters and said he is afraid of deportation to a country he has never stepped foot in.

“I have the support of our group Escucha Mi Voz and I know that with all the help from all of you, I know that we are going to win and I hope that they will give me freedom, because the truth is I am not a dangerous person,” Yugar-Cruz said. “I didn’t commit any crime. I only came to ask for protection.”

Escucha Mi Voz will hold a rally for Yugar-Cruz at noon April 30 at the Linn County Jail, the organization announced Wednesday, to call for a halt to his removal from the U.S.

Yugar-Cruz has spent the majority of his time in custody since entering the U.S. in July 2024, having crossed into Arizona and surrendered himself to law enforcement. He applied for asylum in October of that year and received a judgment withholding his removal from the U.S. based on torture Yugar-Cruz previously faced in Bolivia and could face again if he went back.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempted to deport Yugar-Cruz to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico and Canada without success during his 17-month detainment, despite the judge’s ruling. In December 2025, Yugar-Cruz won his release from Muscatine County Jail with ICE supervision in a lawsuit alleging violations of Yugar-Cruz’s due process rights and the Immigration Nationality Act.

After learning in March that Congo would accept Yugar-Cruz as part of the “Third-Country Removal Agreement” President Donald Trump’s administration reached with the country’s government, Yugar-Cruz was once again detained April 8 and nearly deported before the action was blocked by a judge.

However, on April 27, the same federal judge denied Yugar-Cruz’s motion for a block on his deportation from the U.S., citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings to remove injunctions blocking such removals.

Yugar-Cruz said in his audio message he is fighting to stay in the U.S. and knows he and his supporters will win.

“You are seeing a lot of injustice here, they are sending several people to the Republic of Congo,” Yugar-Cruz said. “And the truth is, they are including me on this flight anyway, so what they are trying to do with me is make me stay in the Congo and I am afraid to go to this country.”