Gay HIV-Positive DREAMer Deported Despite Community Pleas to ICE

If immigration officials followed their own guidelines, Wasington Coelho Ribero should never have been deported, advocates say.

By Julianne Hing Nov 02, 2012

It was the sort of tragedy the Obama administration had seemed so intent on avoiding. On Thursday night Wasington Coelho Ribero, a DREAM Act-eligible undocumented immigrant, was deported to Brazil. His deportation came four months after the Obama administration announced that it would immediately stop deporting young undocumented immigrants who met several stringent requirements, and more than a year after the Obama administration also said it would focus deportations only on those who presented a serious threat to the nation’s security. Advocates say that under at least one of these administrative guidances, if not for humanitarian reasons, Ribero, a 27-year-old immigrant with a U.S. citizen partner, should have been granted relief. Immigration officials disagreed. Immigrant and LGBT rights activists worked to protect him from deportation and called [for his release](http://action.dreamactivist.org/florida/wasington/) as Ribero’s health started declining while in detention. He entered detention in fine health but after four months without access to medical care in Krome Detention Center in Miami, he "developed sores on his feet and white spots," [activists said](https://colorlines.com/archives/2012/10/hiv-positive_dreamer_in_urgent_need_of_medical_care_stuck_in_ice_custody.html).