SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient was accused of breaking the law and was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement agents.
Josue Romero has been released, but he said his legal troubles are far from over.
“I can’t describe how I feel. I just want to break down and cry,” he said.
Romero felt an overwhelming amount of joy brought on by freedom after he was facing deportation just hours earlier on Thursday.
“I was thinking about all my friends and everything, the life I've led up until this point and what that meant for my future,” Romero said. “I was kind of devastated because I've never know anything outside of my life here in San Antonio.”
Romero was brought to the U.S. illegally from Honduras at the age of 3. He’s now a graduate from Brackenridge High School and a second-year student at the Southwest School of Art.
Police arrested Romero Tuesday on a charge of possession of marijuana.
"As far as allegations of marijuana, (expletive), no comment, sorry," he said.
That’s when ICE got involved. His accomplishments couldn’t have seemed further away.
"I was basically kept up in a whole bunch different cells. I was in the county jail for a while before ICE picked me up, and then I was chained in cuffs for a while. They put me in a detention cell," Romero said.
Romero isn’t sure why he was let go. He said ICE agents already had plans to remove him from the country.
“They said they had a flight for me waiting. Probably in the next week, I was going to be leaving back to Honduras," he said.
It’s unclear how ICE was notified that he was in the county jail. No one could answer that question on Thursday night.
While he’s free, Romero said he’ll be under heavy supervision and has an interview with ICE agents next week. He’s not sure what will happen after that.
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