An Ecuadorian asylum-seeker thought he’d found a safe haven from homophobia in New York City. But within a month of arriving, he was detained during an undercover sting operation at a Penn Station bathroom in July and remains in ICE custody, despite his charges being dropped.

Isrrael, who is now facing deportation, spoke to Gothamist from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, and asked that only his middle name be used due to fear of retaliation by immigration officials. He was one of nearly 200 people arrested as part of a cruising crackdown by federal Amtrak police, who say officers were responding to complaints about men exposing their penises in the transit hub’s bathroom. But Isrrael says he was simply using the urinal and was unfairly targeted by officers who profi

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