Juan David Quichimbo is anxious. By his front door, a set of three blue suitcases — for himself, his wife and their 7-year-old daughter — sit ready in case the family is forced to leave the United States.
Quichimbo and his wife, Mirian Ximena Abarca Tixe, are in the country legally. They have pending T-visas, which can be a lifeline to survivors of trafficking.
They have no criminal records and regularly attended required check-ins with immigration authorities. At a routine check-in on Nov. 18, Quichimbo and Abarca Tixe were shocked to receive handwritten sticky notes stating they needed to self-deport.
"It said they have to buy tickets to leave no later than Dec. 2," said their attorney Elizabeth Shaw. The originating airport had to be Logan Airport, with no layovers in the U.S. Shaw added that an agent verbally told Quichimbo that "the whole family unit would be detained" if they did not leave willingly.
"To be here, to be mistreated … we're already traumatized," Quichimbo said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice, which oversees the nation's immigration court system, didn't return requests for comment.
Quichimbo bought the plane tickets for his family, afraid of breaking any rules. But they're hoping for a last-minute decision that they're allowed to stay.
Continued abuses
In Ecuador, Quichimbo worked for a mining company and lived in a camp for employees. After a mine collapse killed several men, and no efforts were made to recover the bodies or rescue them, Quichimbo wanted to be a whistleblower. Company leaders found out, and showed up armed at his barracks, asking for him. He escaped back home, and left with his family.
They crossed the southern border in June 2021, and were apprehended and released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The family claimed asylum while in New York, but it was denied. They spent thousands on an immigration attorney who their current attorney, Elizabeth Shaw, said dropped the ball on many things, including providing evidence of their birth and marriage certificates, and applying for work authorization for them.
In New York, Quichimbo worked for a company that set up and took down massive tents for events, working over 70 hours a week, for less than minimum wage.
"They didn't provide him any breaks throughout the day despite the fact he worked from like 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week," said Shaw. "They would use intimidating language to him if he complained — the employer would say, 'Be grateful you're undocumented. I could report you' or 'You won't find work elsewhere.'"
When the family moved to Massachusetts, they got a new attorney. Shaw applied for their T-visa in fall 2024. That's a visa for people who have experienced trafficking and would face extreme hardship if removed from the country. The visa can lead to a green card after three years.
At the time of Shaw's submission, the average wait for that type of visa to be processed was 17 months. Now it's over 20 months.
Under federal law, the family can remain legally while their application is being processed, even if their asylum application was denied in New York.
Still, authorities have told the family they are not allowed to stay in the country, and detained Abarca Tixe earlier this year.
The couple had been following authorities' orders and attending required check-ins at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office in Framingham. Quichimbo had even been wearing an electronic ankle monitor for a year by the time they went to an appointment in August. But at that check-in, they were told to leave the country and authorities detained Abarca Tixe, saying she had a final removal order.
"What was done to Mirian … was terrible," Quinchimbo said, as he cried during a phone interview. "We didn't do anything wrong. We're not delinquents or criminals. There was no reason for them to do this."
In a complaint, Shaw wrote that ICE's decision to detain Mirian was "in clear violation of her due process rights" because she has not violated any conditions of her release.
Abarca Tixe was transferred to New Jersey, then to Texas.
The family alleges "squalid conditions" at the ICE facility in Burlington where she was held twice, "in a basement" according to court records, for "roughly two weeks without access to her attorney, family change of clothing, or basic necessities."
Abarca Tixe was held there because there are no long-term female detention facilities in Massachusetts.
On a judge's order, she was sent back to Burlington, Massachusetts, before finally being ordered released on Nov. 6.
Quichimbo and their daughter struggled in her months-long absence.
"Please don't make me go to school, what if something happens to you?" He recounted his daughter saying. He would tell her he needed to work, and she would cry, saying, "Daddy my head hurts, my chest hurts, I don't feel good, make it stop."
She missed a lot of school over two months.
Unsure of what will happen next
Abarca Tixe went to their daughter's school Monday to talk to her teacher's about the potential self-deportation. They're packed with a flight out to Quinto, Ecuador, on Tuesday.
The Board of Immigration Appeals is considering their case, but its been weeks since Shaw filed. They didn't return request for comment. Shaw said she called the board in the morning, and they were beginning to consider an expedited decision.
"The question is how legally enforceable is a sticky note," said Shaw. "That's I've been grappling with back and forth with them."
Meanwhile, the family is in limbo. The 7-year-old has been physically ill and anxious, not wanting to leave friends and school behind. Her parents worry for her safety in Ecuador.
"I am completely afraid of going back. The way I came here — the threats we got over there, toward my family, it would be terrifying to go back, even if we went to another town. As soon as they find out we're back there, they will find us," said Quichimbo.
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