One Trump supporter never imagined that the political movement he championed would cast its shadow over his own doorstep with such clinical, cold efficiency. For nearly two decades, Miami resident Wayne DeMario shared his life with Yamile Alcano, a Cuban immigrant he describes as his best friend and a devout partner who prayed for the very leaders DeMario supported.
Today, DeMario spends his nights weeping, working overtime at a southwest Miami-Dade guitar shop to drown out the silence of an empty home after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained his fiancée. He says she has been held for eight months and is begging for her release in what he has called 'kidnapping'.
DeMario was a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, believing the administration's immigration crackdown would be an 'organised' effort targeting specific threats. Instead, he feels the system has used a 'blanket' approach that swept up his fiancée.
'I called it kidnap because it basically is,' he said. He also begged ICE to release Alcano. 'Please get her home. Please, she does not deserve this.'
He describes the emotional toll as unbearable and says he did not know a man could cry as much as he has over the past eight months. Both DeMario and Alcano were reportedly pro-Trump. After ICE detained Alcano, DeMario says he felt the 'pain and regret' of his decisions.
'I didn't vote for this, but I definitely voted Republican,' DeMario admitted, reflecting on the choice that he now feels has backfired.
'I didn't vote for this, but I definitely voted Republican,' he admitted, reflecting on a choice he now feels has backfired. The irony of his political alignment sharpens his regret, a sentiment echoed by critics who suggest that some voters feel compassion only when policy hits home. For DeMario, this is no longer a matter of 'left or right' but of 'right and wrong'.
He remains brokenhearted, struggling to reconcile his past political loyalty with the reality of a life partner taken away by the very agency his vote empowered.
The detention of Yamile Alcano came during what the couple believed was a routine annual immigration check-in. Alcano had lost her legal residency after a 2008 traffic stop where she was found with three Xanax pills that had fallen out of her purse. Despite this, she had checked in with authorities for years without incident, convinced that Cubans were generally safe from deportation.
DeMario watched as officials grabbed her and placed her in shackles and chains. Alcano is currently being held in a Louisiana detention facility, where she claims she has not seen an immigration judge in eight months. The Department of Homeland Security now lists her among the 'worst of the worst' due to the prior drug possession charge, a classification DeMario sees as a direct slap in the face.
Source: International Business Times UK
