An evangelical leader who has been living in the United States for 26 years has been deported to Guatemala.
Maurilio Ambrocio was arrested in Tampa, Florida on 17th April before the high-profile Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in California that led to on-the-street protests.
The 42-year-old had been attending a routine annual immigration check-in when he was detained.
Ambrocio is originally from Guatemala and arrived in the US illegally. The courts gave him an official "stay of removal" even though there was a deportation order upon him. For this he had to make regular check-ins and maintain a clean record. He has been attending ICE appointments for the last twelve years.
Speaking to Newsweek, Ashley Ambrocio said:
"It's truly horrible. These people are going to their appointments to make it right. If they were the 'real criminals' Trump is supposedly deporting, they wouldn't be representing themselves to a judge."
Under Operation Safeguard, ICE has ramped up deportations and raids in urban "sanctuary" cities, aiming to target both criminal and non-criminal undocumented immigrants.
The White House has set a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsweek: "Maurilio Amizael Ambrocio Mendez is an illegal alien from Guatemala who illegally re-entered the U.S. after being deported in 2006. While illegally in the U.S., Mendez was convicted for driving without a license in 2012. He received final removal orders from a judge on January 13, 2013. He was arrested by ICE on April 17, 2025, in Tampa."
Maurilio has five children since he has lived in the US. All of them are US citizens. He has a handyman and landscaping business and is a pastor of Iglesia Evangelica De Santidad in Wimauma.
Ashley says his faith is strong and that, while he was detained, he preached to many people whose lives had changed as a result of what he said.
"He tells us countless people who have changed their way of living because of the messages my father has preached there," Ashley said.
"Faith is everything for us. It's a pillar of strength," she said. "We have faith that the Lord will use him in there and that soon he will be able to come out."