ICE ‘abducted’ 22-year-old student seeking medical help in Virginia, group says

A 22-year-old Virginia Tech engineering student was “abducted” by federal immigration authorities after he went to a hospital during a mental health crisis, an immigrant advocacy group denouncing his detention said. 

Cristian Romo-Bermejo, who has lived in the U.S. for the last 20 years and is married to an American citizen, was arrested July 9 while seeking medical help in Blacksburg, Virginia, according to a July 21 news release from CASA, a national organization with more than 173,000 members.

Following his arrest, he was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, CASA said.

An ICE spokesperson confirmed to McClatchy News on July 22 that Romo-Bermejo is in ICE detention. In a statement, they said he is from Mexico and is illegally in the U.S.

He “was arrested by the Blacksburg Police Department July 9 and charged with two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer,” the spokesperson said. Then ICE in D.C. “lodged an immigration detainer against Romo-Bermejo with the Montgomery County Jail in Christiansburg, Virginia.”

On July 13, he was transferred from the jail and into ICE custody, according to the spokesperson.

Romo-Bermejo’s wife Jadyn Yost told McClatchy News on July 22 that he was at a going-away party for his co-worker July 9, when he had been drinking and later had “severe panic attacks” that evening.

“He became disoriented, overwhelmed, and frightened,” Yost said in an emailed statement.

“Cristian begged for an ambulance” and his friends “called for help,” Yost explained. She said this resulted in an ambulance and police responding.

Afterward, at LewisGale Hospital Montgomery in Blacksburg, Romo-Bermejo was accused of threatening staff and assaulting two officers evaluating him for suspected alcohol poisoning, according to Blacksburg police, CBS 19 News reported.

Yost told the TV station that he “was not trying to cause harm,” adding that the incident was “completely out of character.”

Romo-Bermejo was brought to the U.S. when he was 2, reads a GoFundMe created by Jadyn Yost’s twin sister Haven Yost, who is helping raise money for Romo-Bermejo’s legal defense. 

The night of his arrest, he was overwhelmed and in a “fragile mental state” and “only remembers waking up in a jail cell,” Jadyn Yost told McClatchy News.

“He is the love of my life,” she said, adding that “he has spent his entire life trying to gain legal status in the only country he calls home.”

Despite his ongoing efforts, CASA said he is at risk of deportation. 

CASA is calling for his release and for elected officials to speak on his situation.

The organization’s director in Virginia, Eduardo Zelaya, said in a statement that Romo-Bermejo is being subjected to “illegal and inhumane criminalization.” 

“He experienced a health emergency and should have received care and compassion, not handcuffs and detention,” Zelaya added. 

The ICE spokesperson told McClatchy News that when the agency took Romo-Bermejo into custody, he was issued a notice that ordered him to appear in federal immigration court to face a Justice Department judge.

“Romo-Bermejo will further be held in custody without bond as he is subject to mandatory detention under the Laken Riley Act,” the spokesperson said.

He is being held at ICE’s Farmville Detention Center in Farmville, Virginia, Jadyn Yost told McClatchy News.

“If this had happened to any other 22 year old college student, someone who was not brought to this country as a toddler, they would still be preparing for their final year of school,” she said. “They would not be sitting in a detention center facing the absolute harshest consequences imaginable.”

Romo-Bermejo is due in court Oct. 16 in connection with the criminal charges he is facing, Jadyn Yost shared.

“In the meantime, we are holding onto hope that he will be granted bond soon so we can continue moving forward with our pending marriage-based I-130 petition and give him the chance to continue his journey toward citizenship,” she added. 

“He deserves to come home and continue building the life he has worked so hard for.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 5:17 PM with the headline "ICE ‘abducted’ 22-year-old student seeking medical help in Virginia, group says."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.