19-year-old recent Cincy high school grad who sought asylum deported to Honduras

By Danielle Goodman , Valerie Lyons

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    HAMILTON, Ohio (WCPO) — A recent Cincinnati high school graduate who has been the center of protests at the Butler County Jail has been deported to Honduras.

Sources confirm to WCPO 9 that Emerson Colindres was set to be deported from the country Wednesday morning back to Honduras. Colindres’ family moved to the United States in 2014 when Colindres was 8 years old, seeking asylum after claims of gang activity against them in Honduras. In 2023, that asylum case was denied.

Earlier this month, the family attended what they believed would be a routine check-in with immigration officials, but Colindres was instead detained and held at the Butler County Jail for more than a week.

On Tuesday, Emerson Colindres was no longer listed as an inmate in the Butler County Jail.

Protestors gathered in support of the 19-year-old at the jail on Monday night after hearing that he was going to be moved.

Colindres’ mother said her son called her on Tuesday and told her he was being held at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center.

On Wednesday, we were told Colindres had been deported back to Honduras.

This all comes after family and friends endured more than 24 hours of uncertainty with Colindres’ whereabouts.

Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, the immigration attorneys representing Colindres, said they had not been notified by ICE about his location despite “repeated attempts” to find out.

The statement went on to call Colindres’ case “extremely disturbing.”

“This sort of clandestine and frightening treatment of a non-criminal 19-year-old is extremely disturbing, particularly because Emerson in no way matches the description of those whom the government has stated are priorities for deportation. We stand in solidarity with Emerson and his family, joining the community in prayer and appealing for mercy,” the statement read.

We also reached out to multiple agencies with no answers, as well as checked ICE’s online detainee locator, but Colindres’ name returned no search results.

Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, “As is the law, if you are in the country illegally and a judge has ordered you to be removed, that is precisely what will happen.”

“Emerson Colindres is an illegal alien who has had a final order of removal since 2023. … ICE’s ATD- Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) exists to ensure compliance with release conditions. All illegal aliens are afforded due process,” McLaughlin said, in part.

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