SEAFORD, Del. - Delaware Governor Matt Meyer has called for the release of a man detained by federal immigration authorities in Seaford, calling the arrest “unnecessarily cruel.”
According to Meyer, Victor Acurio-Suarez is a Seaford resident with developmental disabilities. Acurio-Suarez has no criminal record and is an asylum seeker, depending on his family in Delaware after fleeing gang violence in Ecuador, according to the governor.
Meyer says Acurio-Suarez was reportedly waiting on a pending asylum claim. He was arrested while trying to support his family, according to Meyer, and approached federal agents looking for work without understanding who they were.
“Victor Acurio Suarez poses no threat to public safety,” Meyer wrote on social media on Wednesday. “He has no criminal history and relies on his family for daily care. Delaware believes in upholding public safety and ensuring that our systems are not inflicting harm on individuals who pose no threat and are uniquely vulnerable. Detaining someone in his condition, despite full compliance with the law and a pending asylum claim, serves no legitimate public safety purpose and inflicts real harm on an exceptionally vulnerable person.”
Governor Meyer says he has personally written to the judge overseeing Acurio-Suarez’s case and is urging for his immediate release, arguing that deportation would separate him from his caretaker and place him at risk in the country he fled from.
“Our immigration system must be guided by compassion, proportionality, and sound judgment--not by indiscriminate enforcement or for the sake of fulfilling quotas,” Meyer said. “Delaware will continue to speak out when federal actions cross the line from enforcement into cruelty, and I will continue to advocate for the dignity and safety of every Delaware resident.”
Acurio-Suarez is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, according to ICE's Online Detainee Locator System.
