ICE Arrests Another Pastor, His Family Describes Green Card ‘Bureaucratic Nightmare’

A Maryland pastor who has led a small Hispanic congregation since 2015 is being held at a detention center in Louisiana after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested him last week. 

Daniel Fuentes Espinal, a 54-year-old father of three, is reportedly preaching to detainees at Winn Correctional Center in Winn Parish, Louisiana, while waiting to face an immigration judge to request bond. 

“He’s a remarkably resilient man, and for all of the trauma that he has been subjected to and the stress that’s been inflicted upon him and on his family, he is upbeat and his spirits are good,” Len Foxwell, a spokesperson for the family, told Maryland Matters.

Fuentes Espinal has lived in the U.S. since 2001, but his visa expired decades ago. According to ICE, he entered the country legally on a six-month visa. 

“It is a federal crime to overstay the authorized period granted under a visitor’s visa,” an ICE spokesperson told WJZ.

His family said he has attempted to obtain a green card, but he and his family have been met with a “bureaucratic nightmare.”

“They have felt for years as if the deck is stacked against them, despite having spent a considerable amount of money and time, and effort” to be granted permanent residency, Foxwell said in an CNN report. 

Fuentes Espinal was pulled over by police and arrested on July 21 on the way to his day job as a construction worker. 

His daughter, Clarissa Fuentes Diaz told the outlet he was not given an explanation about why he was stopped. 

“My dad was just confused the whole time, and they cuffed him, put him in the back of the car,” Fuentes Diaz said. “We don’t know everything that people go through, but my dad said he had a different experience than what he’s seen on TV. They were nice to him. They put him in the car, and they drove off.”

Fuentes Espinal oversees Jesus Te Ama Iglesia del Nazareno in Easton, which translates to Jesus Loves You Church of the Nazarene. According to a GoFundMe page for the pastor, he regularly provides “food, shelter, clothing, emergency funds, and emotional support” to the “most vulnerable residents” in Easton, Maryland. 

After his arrest, the pastor was held in an office in Salisbury, Maryland, before he was moved to a holding room at the Baltimore ICE Field Office, where his daughter said he slept on a bench. 

“They were treating them worse than dogs,” Fuentes Diaz said.

He was transferred to Winn Correctional Center last Thursday, where she told Foxwell he was in “remarkably good spirits.”

“She reports that he’s actually preaching to the other detainees at this facility,” he added. “I guess preachers are going to preach.”

Foxwell described Fuentes Espinal as a “beloved pillar” of the community, adding that at times he has opened “his home and provided food and clothing to those who are at the most vulnerable point in their lives, and he never expects anything in return.”

The community that Fuentes Espinal has touched is now rallying around him. Several gathered at a weekly rally held at McKeldin Plaza in Baltimore to express their frustration over the matter. 

“What’s very clear to me is that he’s a very important pillar of his community and our community, and he has no criminal record,” said Emily Rosenthal.

“Immigrants are our community members, they’re neighbors, they’re friends, they’re loved ones, and we need to celebrate contributions to our society,” Jennifer Blalock, with the group Indivisible Baltimore County, told WBAL-TV. 

“My hope is that just more and more and more people come out so it just, it becomes so big that it can’t be ignored,” said protestor Daryl Walsh. 

Foxwell joined that rally Monday night, calling the pastor “a man of faith, a family man who’s been here 24 years,” labeling his detention “a government-sponsored kidnapping.” 

As CBN News reported, the pastor’s arrest is the latest in a string of deportations of Hispanic faith leaders in the U.S. illegally. 

Maurilio Ambrocio pastored the 50 members of Iglesia de Santidad Vida Nueva in Wimauma, Florida. He was deported to Guatemala earlier this month after two decades on American soil.

Maria Isidro, a mother and pastor’s wife, was deported to Mexico in June after living in the U.S. for nearly thirty years. 

Isidro claims her mother and her family met annually with Homeland Security officials to ensure they had legal recourse to remain in the country.

However, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary, told CBN News in a statement that Maria was in the U.S. illegally and was supposed to exit the nation decades ago.

“Maria Isidro, an illegal alien from Mexico, was issued a final order of removal from an immigration judge on Oct. 21, 2004, after she failed to show up for her court date,” McLaughlin said. “She has exhausted all due process and has no legal remedies left to pursue. After failing to self-deport and leave the U.S. for more than two decades, ICE arrested her on June 3, 2025, and deported her on June 11, 2025.”

Meanwhile, Foxwell has organized a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of Fuentes Espinal and his family. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the fundraising campaign was just shy of its $50,000 goal.

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