Immigration enforcement in the United States has escalated sharply this year. Under the Biden administration, the daily number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) peaked at just under 40,000. In President Trump’s second term, that number has surged to more than 65,000.

A striking majority of those detainees — nearly three-quarters — have no criminal convictions.

Michigan has felt this shift acutely. Longtime residents with work authorization, U.S.-citizen children, and active immigration cases are increasingly being detained. One of them is Ernesto Cuevas Enciso.

Who Ernesto is

Ernesto came to the United States from Mexico in 1995. He was three years old. His baby sister, Miriam, was one. They grew up in Detroit one grade apart, sharing classrooms, milestones, and daily life.

As an adult, Ernesto became a DACA recipient. That protection was later revoked when prior, nonviolent misdemeanors surfaced during a renewal screening—a common outcome even for minor offenses from many years earlier.

Today, Ernesto has legal work authorization through a different process and is pursuing a marriage-based green card application. He is a construction worker, a husband, and a father to a one-year-old daughter.

Arrest in Ypsilanti

Last week, Ernesto and another construction worker were near a job site in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached. ICE detained both men.

Ernesto is now being held more than three hours from home at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin — currently the largest immigration detention facility in the Midwest.

Operated by the private prison company GEO Group, North Lake has been the subject of repeated concerns from families, attorneys, and civil-rights groups, who describe cold temperatures, limited access to medical care, and difficulty contacting legal counsel. ICE has disputed these claims, saying the facility meets federal standards.

Ernesto is awaiting an immigration hearing on December 17.

Family and lawmakers call for his release

Ernesto’s family and several Michigan lawmakers are urging ICE to release him on bond. They describe him as not a safety risk, a man who has been following the legal process, supporting his family, and working toward lawful permanent residency.

His sister, Miriam Stone, spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the impact of this detention on their family and why they believe Ernesto should come home while his case proceeds.

What comes next

To understand the legal and policy context behind Ernesto’s case and why so many longtime Michigan residents are being detained this year, The Metro also spoke with Christine Suave of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who explains the legal landscape and what options remain for someone in Ernesto’s position, and State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who discusses what Michigan lawmakers can and cannot do in response to federal immigration enforcement decisions.

ICE response

The Metro contacted Detroit’s office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We asked why they detained Ernesto, given his legal work authorization and his pending marriage-based green card, and if ICE considers a person with two nonviolent misdemeanors, which occurred over a decade ago, to fall within its priority categories of enforcement.

The agency has not yet responded.

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Amid reports that federal immigration officials are accelerating the deportation process of Lue Yang, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has pardoned the Hmong refugee. The governor called him “a devoted family man and respected leader in Michigan’s Hmong community.”

Yang, 47, a father of six from St. Johns, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July. ICE cites a decades-old conviction for attempted second-degree home invasion, a crime committed when he was 19.

Michigan courts have since expunged that record under the state’s Clean Slate law, but federal immigration rules still treat it as grounds for removal.

Since his arrest, Yang has been transferred through multiple ICE facilities, including the federal staging site in Alexandria, Louisiana, which is part of a network used for deportation flights. His case unfolds as the Trump administration has increased removals of Southeast Asian refugees this year.

Refugee to community builder 

During the Vietnam War, Yang’s family, like many Hmong in Laos, worked alongside U.S. troops and CIA operatives, a loyalty that later forced them to flee their homeland and begin again in America. 

Before his family’s journey to the U.S., Yang was born in a Thai refugee camp. He was brought to America as a young child and has no connection to Laos, the country immigration officials are considering for his deportation.

His wife, Ann Vue, told The Metro he has been a pillar for the state’s Hmong residents.

“He has literally brought our Hmong community out and gave us a voice — that we do exist in the state of Michigan.”

Ensnared in the system

Advocates, including Michigan State Sen. Stephanie Chang and immigration attorney Aisa Villarosa of the Asian Law Caucus, say they’ve received reports that Yang’s deportation is proceeding. They believe he was placed on a plane last night with a leg to Laos. 

The Metro has contacted ICE but has not yet received confirmation.

Villarosa says she is encouraged by the governor’s pardon, calling it “a groundbreaking step in the movement to challenge Lue’s detention and deportation, and a message of affirmation to the millions of loved ones and advocates at the front lines of inhumane immigration enforcement policies.”

Still, she says, the effect of Whitmer’s pardon on Yang’s immigration case remains unclear.

Just before Whitmer announced Yang’s pardon, Villarosa joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to discuss fighting to keep families like the Yangs together. 

Use the audio player above to listen.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro