An Iowa man was deported to Guatemala over the Fourth of July weekend, leaving the community who quickly rallied behind him stunned, distraught and devastated.
Pascual Pedro, a 20-year-old construction worker and West Liberty High School graduate, was deported sometime July 6 or 7 to the country he fled from as a teenager. He was deported just days after United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained him, his attorney Tim Farmer said. He met with immigration officials at their Cedar Rapids office July 1 for a routine check-in appointment.
Escucha Mi Voz, a faith-based immigrant rights group that has backed Pedro, said the former high school soccer star was detained that day in the Muscatine County Jail.
He was moved to a detention center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, sometime over the weekend, organizers said.
His family lost contact with him Saturday afternoon until Monday morning when he called from Guatemala City, they said.
Farmer said he is unsure when Pedro was flown out of the U.S.
Who is Pascual Pedro?
In 2018, Pedro fled to the U.S. from Guatemala with his father. Soon after, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials issued them both an expedited removal but only Pedro’s father was deported, Farmer said.
Officials also issued Pedro an order of supervision, which allowed him and others alike to temporarily live in the U.S. with strict conditions while waiting final deportation orders.
“He’s basically just been living in the U.S. for the past few years at their whim,” Farmer said. “They can decide to execute the order of removal at any time, and that’s what they’ve done.”
Farmer said he learned of his client’s departure midday Monday, July 7. Organizers at Escucha Mi Voz, which held two vigils in the days since Pedro was detained to pray for his release, had informed Farmer of his change in status. Farmer said he had just filed a stay of removal petition with ICE in Omaha, in which dozens of faith, school and community leaders wrote letters of support for Pedro.
“I was hoping that with the holiday weekend that would benefit us some, in a sense that they wouldn’t deport him over the weekend,” Farmer said. “But obviously they did.”
Among the pile of letter writers was Pedro’s godfather, Escucha Mi Voz board president Father Guillermo Treviño.
Treviño, who leads St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty, said Pedro and his family often attended Sunday Mass. He was Pedro’s confirmation teacher and became his sponsor during the spiritual rite.
To him, Pedro is an outstanding community member and athlete. Last year, the 2024 West Liberty High School graduate helped his soccer team qualify for state, organizers said.
He is “a man of faith,” Treviño said. “A kid with no record.”
“You look me up (on Iowa Courts),” Treviño said, “I got a couple traffic tickets, speeding tickets.
“He’s got nothing.”
In another letter, West Liberty Mayor Mark Smith said he did not know who Pedro is — and that’s a “good” thing.
“Pascual followed the ordinances of the City of West Liberty,” Smith wrote. “From what I have been able to learn about Pascual’s involvement in our community, he is the person we want to have living in West Liberty: law abiding, employed and contributing to our economy.”
West Liberty City Council member Dana Dominguez added: “There is no public safety rationale to detain him. There is no moral rationale to separate him from the only home he knows.”
Farmer said Pedro, for now, has no option to return to the U.S.
Still, Treviño and Escucha Mi Voz are fighting.
While Pedro was detained, Escucha Mi Voz launched a GoFundMe page, with a goal to raise $30,000 for legal aid, as well as care for Pedro and his family’s basic needs. As of July 8, the fundraiser had nearly hit that goal. The group plans to hold two demonstrations: one on July 9 at the ICE office in Cedar Rapids and another on July 10 at the congressional offices of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Sen. Joni Ernst.
“This is a travesty,” Treviño said. “There was no due process, and our message is bring him back now.”
ICE arrests up in Iowa since Trump took office
Arrests and deportations in Iowa have both nearly tripled in the first five months of 2025 compared with the same time period last year, data from the Deportation Data Project shows.
ICE has already arrested and deported more people in Iowa in the first five months of this year than it did throughout all of 2024.
The arrests in those months include 439 men and 12 women. A majority of the men (266) were since deported, compared with three of the women.
ICE data also indicates about three in five people arrested this year have a criminal conviction on their records. About 30% have at least one charge but no conviction, and roughly 9% had no charges or convictions, according to the Deportation Data Project’s interpretation of data definitions.
F. Amanda Tugade covers community and faith for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on X @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: ‘A kid with no record’: 20-year-old Iowa man detained by ICE, deported to Guatemala
Reporting by F. Amanda Tugade, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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