Omar Viadurre Luis’ wife Laura, community members and clergy spoke during a press conference on Tuesday.
A Harrisburg wife and mother on Tuesday pleaded for her husband to be returned home.
Harrisburg Catholic Worker hosted a press conference to call for the release of Omar Viadurre Luis, a Harrisburg asylum seeker, from an ICE detention center.
“He’s a fellow Catholic of ours in the Diocese of Harrisburg, and Omar, like Christ, has been unjustly detained,” said Renee Roden of the Catholic Worker, standing outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on State Street.
Omar’s wife Laura told the story of how her family fled danger in their home country, Peru, with their 5-year-old son in 2022. The family did “everything the American government has told us to do,” Laura said, including registering at the U.S. border and applying for asylum. Both adults also paid for work permits, got jobs and paid taxes. Omar has no criminal record, Roden said.
According to Laura, Omar received a letter in the mail last summer that ordered him to appear in court, accusing him of a misdemeanor that he did not commit. When he arrived to plead his case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were waiting.
Since then, the district attorney dropped the charges against Omar, but he has remained in detention for over five months.
“Our family came to the United States for safety, but now it’s more difficult,” Laura said. “My husband is not here with me. My son cries every day for his dad to come home. My husband missed our 10th anniversary, my birthday, and Christmas and Easter with our family.”
According to Roden, Omar has pleaded for a habeas petition, which has been granted, but an immigration judge has denied bail twice. Omar was originally detained in Moshannon Valley Processing Center, but was later moved to FCI Lewisburg prison, which recently began housing ICE detainees. She added that he has an order to be deported to a “dangerous country he’s never been to.”
His wife also noted that Omar had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for the day after he was detained by ICE that was to screen him for cancer in his bones.
“He is in pain right now and needs urgent medical care,” Laura said.
Several area pastors and clergy offered prayers for Omar and other refugees and migrants like him. Omar’s lawyers provided statements as well.
“Mr. Vidaurre Luis is detained as the result of over-broad laws and unlawful policies,” said attorney Kadijah Turay-Sengova of Best & Associates, LLP. “He is a good person, who has been a peaceful and productive member of his local community.”
Roden said that Omar’s story is not unique, as many other non-criminal immigrants are detained nationally and even locally.
“Among Catholics, our neighbors in Allison Hill, we know many who’ve been detained in Moshannon for months. We know of a woman in our community who’s had a husband in Moshannon for over a year,” she said. “We know many of our neighbors have been able to be released on bond though, and we hope that for Omar as well.”
Officials urged residents to pray for the family, contact local representatives and lawmakers and to donate to Omar’s family through a GoFundMe.
So far, donations have totaled over $15,000.
“We can’t pay our bills without his job—friends and neighbors have had to help us,” Laura said. “We need my husband back home.”
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