U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Tomas Orellana, a resident of Great Neck, Long Island, outside a Mineola courthouse on Monday, January 5.
Orellana, originally from El Salvador, has lived in the country for more than 20 years with his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, and their eight children, all U.S. citizens who attended schools in Great Neck.
Orellana was in court for a mandatory probation visit for a 2023 DWI conviction before being detained by ICE. This was Orellana’s second DWI conviction.
Attempts to contact ICE were unsuccessful.
Orellana’s family learned of his arrest when they received a text message from him asking them to call his immigration attorney.
Tomas Orellana’s wife, Claudia Orellana, has not been able to speak to her husband since he was detained.
“I broke down,” he said. “Who expects something like that to happen to someone?”
Tomas Orellana was in the country with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but his renewal was denied in 2024 due to his second DWI conviction.
Claudia Orellana said that one of her first thoughts was about her children. Their youngest son is 6 years old and they have an 18-year-old son who is in his first semester of college.
“How are you going to go to university if we have no income?” said Claudia Orellana. She works as a health assistant, but Claudia Orellana said her husband was the main breadwinner for the family.
The couple met in Great Neck, where Tomas Orellana worked for a local landscaping company. They later married and Tomas Orellana acted as a father figure to Claudia Orellana’s son with special needs.
The Orellana family has raised more than $5,000 on GoFundMe for bail and household expenses in just one day.
Tomas Orellana was initially held at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow, but his attorney, Byron Quintanilla, said he believes Orellana has been transferred to a jail in New York City.
In 2024, Nassau executive Bruce Blackman reached an agreement with ICE to temporarily house its detainees.
Between February and October 2024, more than 2,200 people detained by ICE were held in the East Meadow jail.
Quintanilla will appear in court on Tuesday, January 13 in Manhattan to request the release of Tomas Orellana and the cancellation of his deportation proceedings.
Until then, Claudia Orellana said she will focus on making her husband’s situation known.
“Many immigrants are very afraid to speak,” said Claudia Orellana. “Even though we are immigrants, we have rights. This is a free country.”
