AURORA, Colo. — Alexandria Dowell met Ariel Cruz Penton while on vacation in Miami. The moment they met, Dowell said it felt like they had known each other for years.
Suddenly, it was more than a vacation. Dowell began wondering if she had found her person.
By the end of 2022, Dowell and Penton were married. Soon, they shared a home in Aurora with their 2-year-old daughter.
"He's my world," Dowell told Denver7 Monday. "He's just so thoughtful. He's a hardworking man and we're a team... He really pushes me to follow my dreams and anything that I want to accomplish, so I couldn't ask for anything else."
Now, Dowell fears her family will be torn apart after Penton, who is from Cuba, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 10.
Dowell said on that day, Penton was heading off to work. He dropped off their daughter with the babysitter before he was detained, according to Dowell.
"I found out probably an hour later. I finally was able to get a message from him saying that he had been detained by ICE and I was freaking out because I was at work and I didn't know what to do," Dowell recalled. "We had our immigration check-in three weeks prior, so I had every indication to think that we were going to be fine... An immigration check-in is something that you do yearly, and they just make sure that you're still in good standing, no recent criminal activity. All of your information is up to date in the system, and then once you get the green light, then they'll give you another date for a future time to come back in and do another check-in."
- Denver7 first heard about Penton's story when Dowell wrote an email to the newsroom. Read a portion of that email below:
According to ICE, Penton was arrested due to a final order of removal that was issued by an immigration judge in 2019. A spokesperson with ICE told Denver7 that Penton entered the country illegally near El Paso, Texas, on May 30, 2019.
"He holds a valid work permit. He does have an order for deportation because when he entered the US, he did come in at the border, presented himself, pleaded political asylum," Dowell explained. "They granted his credible fear interview to him. So, they gave him the political asylum, and then ICE forced him to sign papers — he had no idea what he was signing — and gave up his right for parole as well as political asylum, and then was given an order for deportation."
Immigration attorney Carlos Mejias is representing the family. He told Denver7 the documents that Penton signed are problematic for their case.
"They coerced him to sign a document that basically states that he has no fear of returning to Cuba. So, with that document, the judge in his case ordered him deported because asylum is based on a fear of returning to your home country, whether that's a past persecution or future persecution," said Mejias.
According to Dowell, Penton has a pending appeal to regain parole, which would allow him to temporarily remain in the country for certain reasons. She also claims Penton is actively seeking political asylum while being detained, but asserts he is being denied his right to a credible fear interview.
"He left Cuba because he spoke out against the government, and he was seeking political asylum," said Dowell. "I'm concerned for his life because we don't know what that means. If the government finds out that he has returned back to Cuba, that can mean serious repercussions for him or even his family."
"When you do have an appeal pending, what most of these immigrants do is they go and see ICE once a year or twice a year, and during those check-ins, you're complying with the law, you're complying with the terms of your release and the terms of your freedom within the United States," Mejias explained. "In previous administrations, an appeal would kind of stop the process... Under this administration, we're seeing a lot of things happening. One of those things is expedited deportations without regard to an appeal."
Both Mejias and Dowell said Penton does not have a criminal record. Denver7 conducted a background check on Penton and found no evidence of a criminal record.
"The Trump administration specifically said that they're going after criminals, and my husband's not a criminal. He doesn't even have a speeding ticket to his name," Dowell said. "We own a home. We are a family. I'm US-born. My daughter's US-born. We pay our taxes. We do everything by the book... Every single day, I'm scared for his life. I'm scared for what that means for my family, and I don't know what the next steps are going to be."
Dowell said her husband was recently transferred from the Aurora ICE Processing Center to a facility in El Paso, Texas.
"Once they're transferred from their main holding facility, in my experience, they're transferred to a center where the planes come in basically, right? That's the processing center where they're ultimately deported," Mejias said. "This could happen really fast. He's been lucky, and we've had God on our side because he is — I feel like Cuba is not accepting people at this point, right? And if Cuba doesn't accept people, their options are to make the immigrant sign a piece of paper stating that they're going to be okay with going to Mexico. Obviously, we've advised him against that."
Dowell said the couple has been working for more than a year to obtain an I-130, which is the "first step to help an eligible relative apply to immigrate to the United States and apply for a Green Card." She said they are still waiting for an answer.
"It's not as fast or as easy as people believe," Dowell said about the immigration process in America. "I think a lot of people have a different idea of what this process looks like based off of reality TV shows, and it's not that simple."
At this point, Mejias said the family has reached out to a legislator to try and help with their case.
"There's really not much else we can do. I've used every option. One other thing — that I can't even do right — is a mandamus and habeas corpus lawsuit, which would stop an immigration process, because we're arguing that he's being unjustly detained and unjustly deported," said Mejias. "But because he has passed through his asylum case — even though he was coerced to sign it — but because he's already went through that process, due process in their eyes has been completed, and they've got everything they need to deport."
Meanwhile, Dowell has not slept much since her husband was detained. She has been working to support her daughter and household while living with the fear of the unknown. It was not how she had pictured their story unfolding.
"My daughter asks for him every day. She sees his car in the driveway and immediately calls out for him, and I have to lie to her and tell her that her dad's at work, and she has no idea," said Dowell. "I'm hoping for a miracle at this point. I can only pray because at this point, it's out of my hands, but I'm going to keep trying and fighting for my husband."
A GoFundMe was established to help support Dowell and her family through this process.
