Fernando Rocha has been out of ICE’s detention center in Tacoma for almost as long as he was in, but he still doesn’t feel free.

A black monitor is strapped to his left ankle, he can’t travel outside of Washington state, and he has to check in with Department of Homeland Security authorities virtually each week and in person every two months until his asylum hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

In his car, he wonders if he’ll get pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement again. At home, if they will come to his door.

“My life is now a nightmare,” said Rocha. “I feel like I’m a hostage.”

The theater manager at Juanita High School in Kirkland spent nearly two weeks at the Northwest detention center, after being detained July 17 on the grounds that his tourist visa had expired

See Full Page