FLINT, MI - Advocates and family members are urging federal officials to intervene after a longtime Michigan resident was ordered deported to Cuba during an immigration court hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 2, a decision they say puts his life and health at risk.

Jesús López Rodríguez, 61, has lived in the United States for more than 21 years after arriving through the Cuban visa lottery in 2004 with approval from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, according to a Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights news release.

He was detained by immigration officers in Flint on June 2 while driving to work and has been held at Calhoun County Correctional Facility in Battle Creek for the past six months.

According to federal immigration court records, an immigration judge ordered López Rodríguez removed from the Uni

See Full Page