Fund Junior's bond and reunite the Alvarez family

The issue: Junior Álvarez is an asylum-seeker from Honduras currently incarcerated in the Kenosha County Detention Center. In order to reunite him with his family, we must raise his bond of $4,500 before March 13, 2019 to secure his release and grant his legal team enough time to prepare his case before he faces deportation.

***

Junior Álvarez comes from a humble, farming background in Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras, a traditional Garifuna community on the Caribbean coast. He and his wife Vanessa lived there with their six children until, a few months ago, their lives were endangered. 

Their troubles began three years ago, when the first of three of Junior’s uncles was murdered by police tied to local criminal networks. When this uncle failed to pay a so-called “security tax” for his small business, he was murdered by police working at the behest of local racketeers. His land passed into the hands of the second uncle, who then became the owner of the small, bamboo food stand where the family sells what they grow on the land. When he, too, was unable to pay the extortion money, police emptied their weapons into his face, leaving his body all but unrecognizable to his family. The third uncle to inherit was decapitated by the same policemen last year. 

A few months ago, the local police came for Junior and his family, who were next in line to inherit the business. They appeared at Junior’s home and attacked him, his wife, and two of their children. Following the attack, Junior and Vanessa made the decision to leave with the two children who had been targeted and seek asylum here in the United States. Upon arrival, they turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol. Because the administration is no longer separating children from their parents, Junior’s wife and children were not incarcerated and are residing with family in Texas. 

Junior, however, was immediately arrested and placed in detention, and has not seen his family since. ICE frequently moves detainees around the country as they face bed shortages, and he is now in the Kenosha County Detention Center. 

If we can raise his bond of $4,500, he will be released to rejoin his family. They will work with our attorneys and present their case before an immigration judge together. If not, however, he will certainly be deported back to Honduras next month.

The attorney working with Voces de la Frontera has said that there is insufficient time to put together a case before March 13, which is his final deadline. If we can raise Junior’s bond and secure his release, he will receive a later court date that will allow his legal team to put together a case in his defense. 

Please help us reunite this beautiful family that has already suffered far too much.