New York man speaks on ICE detention of husband

A New York man is speaking out after his husband was detained by ICE during a green card hearing last week. He says his husband has been in the US for over a decade.

Sonia Rincon spoke with the man’s husband, who said the man has no criminal history.

It was a simple green card hearing last Monday at 26 Federal Plaza.

“The building, home to ice in New York, is intimidating these days, but Allen Dabrio Marrero and Matthew Marrero, married for two years now, felt confident.

Matthew Collin Marrero, the husband of the detained man, said, “We were scared, but we also felt like we’ve done everything right up to this point. My husband has been meticulous with his immigration paperwork.”

It turned out there was one thing Allen had missed, a piece of mail when he was between addresses.

Collin Marrero / Husband of detained man: “We were told that in December of 2022, he had missed a hearing and the judge ordered removal,” Matthew said. “That was the first we’d ever heard of that.”

Especially surprising, since he’d had hearings, gotten work authorization and a driver’s license, and applied to school to become a nurse since then.

The 34-year-old has been in the US since 2013, applying for asylum from the Cayman Islands, where it wasn’t safe for him to be openly gay.

Ten years later, he met Matthew.

“From there, it was just like he’s my person,” said Matthew. “He heard me and saw me the way I’ve always wanted to be heard and seen, and within the month of us talking, I had written in a journal that this man is going to be my husband. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this man. He’s the love of my life, and I’m lost without him.”

Allan has been in detention since ICE took him into custody at that hearing here last week, but he has been granted a stay that’s keeping him from being deported for now. The couple is waiting for the chance to tell a judge this was a simple oversight, and that he should be home for Christmas.

“The way the narrative has been spun to the general public is that they’re going after the worst of the worst, and that is not true,” said Matthew. “My husband is a contributing member to society, and is proud to want to be an American.”

Matthew has been visiting Allen at Newark’s Delaney Hall, which he calls eye-opening.

“The families and the babies and the people who are sitting out in the cold and the rain waiting just to get a glimpse of their loved one,” said Matthew. “This is wrong; this is wrong.”

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the couple.

The Gayly online. 12/06/2025 @ 5:43 p.m. CST.