North High student worked to support his family. ICE arrested him at work
Jairo Pitalasig
By Azhae’la Hanson and Melody Hoffmann, North News
Jairo Pitalasig’s shoulders carried a heavy load. He worked a full-time construction job while finishing his senior year at North High School, providing a crucial paycheck to his family as they sought asylum from Ecuador, and helped take care of his dad, who was in remission from cancer.
With all that he juggled, Jairo missed one routine court date. On Jan. 12, ICE detained him while he was at work. He is now in El Paso, Texas, scheduled to be deported.
Classmates, teachers, and family were shocked to hear of Pitalasig's detention. A day later, social media posts sprang up demanding his release.
Jairo's mother, who North News has agreed not to identify, was distraught that she did not have a chance to hug her son before he was detained.
“I am worried about him, and I don’t know what is happening,” she said through a translator. She described Jairo as smart and hardworking.
Sam Wilbur, Pitalasig's first-hour teacher at North, said on social media, “This has to stop.”
“This is my student, Jairo. He was supposed to be in my first hour class today, but he was abducted by ICE at his job last night,” Wilbur wrote online on Jan 13. “He is the sweetest, smartest, and hardest-working kid you could imagine. His family has no idea where he is being detained.”
A number of immigrant students have elected not to come to school in fear of being detained, and Minneapolis Public Schools is offering an online learning option through Feb. 12.
When Pitalasig’s father was diagnosed with cancer, his family had gone into debt while trying to afford his father's treatment. Their doctor in Ecuador told them that their best shot would be to seek care in the United States.
So they did.
Jairo arrived in Minneapolis in 2023, when he began the asylum-seeking process. He was a part of an influx of immigrants who came to the United States seeking asylum from Ecuador, many of whom were fleeing rampant crime and political violence.
His family described leaving behind the tragedy of losing loved ones and a house that was falling apart.
Pitalasig started his sophomore year at North High School that fall, and until recently, had never missed an immigration court appointment.
He turned 18 last June and became a breadwinner for his family. His mom said he did everything to support them. His teachers called him a college-bound “math wizard” and a kid who loved to joke with his friends, and in addition to school, he had taken on a 40-hour workweek in construction to help pay off debts.
It was at that job, on Jan. 12, when ICE agents took him away.
Pitalasig’s father was detained by ICE and sent to El Paso the day before. His father’s cancer is in remission after treatments.
His mother received a call within 48 hours that her son was being held in Texas, waiting to be deported back to Ecuador. She said the family didn’t know he had the deportation order due to the missed court date until he was already in custody.
Asylum seekers have not been at the top of the list for immigration enforcement, but according to a local immigration lawyer, missing a court date can put asylum seekers at risk of being detained by ICE.
“The court is the only one that has the power to order removal,” Graham Ojala-Barbour said, who runs his own immigration firm in St. Paul. “If the court sends someone a notice and the person doesn't show up, then the judge typically orders removal in absentia.”
In other words, it's a one-strike-and-you’re-out kind of system for people like Pitalasig.
Pitalasig was legally considered a minor until recently and was a minor during the majority of his asylum-seeking process.
Trump's Operation Metro Surge has filled the local jails, where Pitalasig may have otherwise been held. This may have given his family a chance to contact a lawyer and reopen his case.
Lawyers can help by reopening removal orders within 180 days of a person's detention, but that legal move becomes harder when clients are quickly moved out of state, as was the case with Pitalasig, who is currently detained in Texas.
After speaking with family, Pitalasig made the difficult decision not to reopen the case and go back to Ecuador.
Northside community members published a GoFundMe to support Jairo’s family and his return to Ecuador.