We voted to deport criminals, not young, documented Kentuckians like Ernesto | Opinion

Three weeks ago, we celebrated Ernesto’s high school graduation. Now, I’m fighting to get him released from ICE detention.

Ernesto Manuel Andres is legally authorized to be in the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status and Deferred Action. SIJ is reserved for the most vulnerable children, those abandoned, abused, or neglected. He has complied with every requirement the government has given him. Yet last week, he was detained in a collateral arrest while ICE was pursuing someone else. He had done nothing wrong. He is not a criminal. He should not be in detention.

This is what White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller doesn’t tell you when he celebrates the “big, beautiful” border enforcement funding.

The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ represents a massive investment in immigration enforcement, nearly $168 billion over five years, including $8 billion to hire 10,000 new ICE agents. Americans were promised that this funding would focus on removing violent criminals and keeping our communities safe. But when law-abiding young people like Ernesto, who have followed every legal requirement, are swept up instead, we need to ask: Are these resources being used the way the American people were led to believe they would be?

Responsible governance means ensuring that taxpayer dollars deliver on their intended purpose and that the system protects the innocent while pursuing the truly dangerous.

Miller recently justified the dramatic expansion of ICE’s detention and enforcement quotas by claiming, “this is what the American people voted for.”

I want to remind him, and every lawmaker, that the campaign promise was not to lock up young people like Ernesto. It was to deport violent criminals. Frankly, that is a promise I agreed with. I want rapists, murderers, and traffickers out of this country. But that is not what is happening.

Very soon after the inauguration, the rhetoric shifted. Anyone here undocumented was labeled a criminal. This is not true. But let’s not get lost in technicalities. What matters is that ICE is now detaining people who have legal status. People like Ernesto. People who pay taxes. People who have done everything by the book, only to be targeted for political theater.

What Miller also won’t tell you is how ICE uses tactics designed to bypass due process: since Wednesday night, they’ve moved Ernesto three times — most recently to Monroe, Louisiana — deliberately denying him access to his attorneys. He should have been released immediately. Instead, he’s being transferred again and again while his legal team fights to catch up.

Each one of these transfers costs taxpayers an estimated $3,000–$5,000. We are spending thousands of dollars per move to violate Ernesto’s rights, when it would cost far less to simply let him go back home to Kentucky, where he belongs.

This is happening while Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is being revoked for countries like Venezuela, which the U.S. itself deems too unsafe for travel, and Afghanistan, where many TPS holders served alongside the U.S. military. This is cruelty disguised as policy.

Now the daily arrest quota is 3,000, triple what it was. And to meet it, ICE is sweeping up the law-abiding, the vulnerable, and the innocent. Because when your system is incompetent, and you can’t find 3,000 violent felons per day, you target the easiest marks: people like Ernesto.

I have sat back and watched as one thing after another has been unleashed on my community. Enough.

If Americans truly want to remove dangerous criminals, let’s reward those who help remove violent criminals. Offer a fast-tracked green card to anyone who turns in a convicted felon. Give undocumented people with no criminal record a two-year work permit—renewable if they learn English, stay employed, and follow the law. No welfare. Just work. And pause new admissions until we fix the system we have. It’s simple. It’s enforceable. And it respects both the law and human dignity.

What is happening to Ernesto is not what this country voted for. It is not what this country stands for. And if we let it stand, if we allow a young man with legal status to be detained in this way, then none of us can say we believe in justice.

This has to stop.

Luma Mufleh is a social justice activist, founder of Fugees Family, and author of Learning America and From Here. She has worked for nearly two decades to support refugee and immigrant youth across the U.S., and today she is fighting for the release of Ernesto, one of her graduates, wrongfully detained by ICE.