448 Days, 12 Hearings and $58,000: One Dreamer's Journey Through the Immigration System

UPDATE: On Dec. 19 at 9 p.m. Jorge Chacon was released from the Essex County Detention Center after ICE declined to appeal a judge's November ruling that he be freed and given legal permanent status. He embraced his wife and daughter, Rachel, who asked: "I love you Daddy, I love you, are you coming home with me now?" And he held his baby son, Nathan, for the first time outside the jail's walls. "Unforgettable moment," Chacon said. "It's so beautiful to be together." The next morning, Chacon said he had his only quality breakfast after 16 months in detention: Scrambled eggs, tortillas and black beans. Then Rachel asked him to take her to Target. They just walked around, he said, because his family went broke after his arrest. "Today I couldn't [buy her anything], but tomorrow I will, because God will provide," Chacon said. His job search -- he's a house painter by trade -- begins Friday.

Jorge Chajon was 13 years old when gangs infiltrated his neighborhood in Guatemala and his family told him that it was time to go north, alone, to join his parents in New Jersey, where they had settled years earlier. He made the journey with a caravan of 75 people, ultimately reconnecting with his parents and enrolling at Plainfield High School, where he was a kicker on the football team and could have earned a scholarship to Rutgers University — if only he had a Social Security number.

Chajon, now 29, later sorted out his immigration status, qualifying for the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program under President Barack Obama. He met his future wife, Sharon, at Bible study at church, and he settled into life as a house painter. 

Two years ago Chajon tried to get a Green Card and become a permanent citizen through his wife, who is a U.S. citizen originally from Colombia. That's when problems arose that led to his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August 2017 and an extraordinary journey through the detention system that included 12 scheduled court hearings and 448 days locked up at two jails. Based on the amount ICE pays to the detention centers, his imprisonment has so far cost taxpayers more than $58,000.  

Chajon's case is just one in an increasingly clogged immigration court system. The number of pending cases in New Jersey immigration courts skyrocketed 26 percent from the 2017 fiscal year to last year, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. There are more than 40,000 open cases in the state, and 1 million nationwide. A shortage of immigration judges and stricter enforcement policies under the Trump Administration compounds the backlog, meaning more detained immigrants and prolonged jail time for those like Chajon.

ICE officials said only that Chajon was arrested for unspecified immigration violations. But there appear to be three reasons why he ended up in detention. 

First, in order to have enough money for the attorney he hired for his Green Card application, Chajon didn't pay the fee to renew DACA. That meant he was once again living in the country without documentation. Second, he had a juvenile charge from shortly after he arrived in the country, and while that didn't make him ineligible for permanent residency, the Chajons said their attorney at the time failed to file the requested document about that case. And lastly, Chajon had briefly returned to Guatemala in 2015 -- with permission from the government, he said -- to visit his dying grandfather. That made him an "arriving alien," which is a deportable offense. 

Shortly after his application for a Green Card was denied, Chajon was arrested outside his home in Somerset, N.J., on the way to work. He was initially taken to the Elizabeth Contract Detention Center. Sharon was 19 weeks pregnant. Their daughter, Rachel, was 1.

"My first thought was, 'I will have to have my baby on my own,'" Sharon Chajon said. "And I started thinking all the possibilities. It was terrible. I cannot describe how I was feeling at that moment."

Moments before the baby, Nathan, was born, she spoke to her husband on the phone. "He was really excited, but he was absolutely sad," she said. "He was really, really, really sad for me, for him, for both of us." Immediately after being discharged from the hospital, the family went to the detention center so father could meet son. 

Several months later, Chajon said he found metal in his serving of fruit at the Elizabeth detention center. He also noticed a white, moldy substance on the meatloaf. Chajon said that because he is bilingual, he was chosen by other detainees to speak to the guards. "We’re not going to eat this food," he said he told them. "We're humans also."

Days later, Chajon was transferred from Elizabeth to the Essex County Correctional Facility, which is considered to be a more punitive environment. The jail has a contract with ICE to house about 800 ICE detainees for approximately $2 million a month. 

In an interview last week at the Essex County jail, Chajon said he believes he was moved there as a punishment for complaining. Asked why Chajon was relocated, a spokesman for ICE said in an email that the agency "utilizes its bed space placement based on operational needs, classification level and availability."

Meanwhile, Chajon's case was winding its way through the system. Twelve hearings were scheduled. At least two were canceled at the request of Chajon's attorney, but the most recent ones, in June and August, were postponed simply because Chajon wasn't brought from the jail to court. 

With so many law enforcement agencies involved, it is difficult to determine why Chajon wasn't brought to court on two different occasions. A spokesman at the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which adjudicates immigration cases, said in an email: "The respondent did not appear in court due to logistical issues related to [Chajon's] transfer between different ICE detention facilities."

The spokesman did not clarify what those issues were, or who was responsible. An ICE spokesman said it is "ICE's responsibility to present the individual for his or her hearing." But in some cases, the spokesman said, ICE will utilize jail personnel to provide transportation. It is unclear who was supposed to provide transportation in both of these instances.

Chajon is something of a leader on his cell block. An observant Christian, he preaches to small groups of detainees, sometimes until 3 a.m. His faith, he said, is helping him through this time. "Not being there is not easy, but God gives me the strength," he said. "I believe that it's my last week in this place."

The next hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon, and Sharon Chajon is terrified that her husband once again won't be brought to court in downtown Newark. A group of immigration activists and faith leaders are scheduled to rally before the hearing, hoping to call attention to the case. 

This hearing will determine if he is allowed to stay in the country. If he loses, he’ll be deported back to Guatemala. And his wife and two kids — all American citizens — will go with him.

Update: Chacon was indeed brought to the court for his hearing. A ruling is expected Nov. 20.