Longtime Local Detained By ICE, Friends Come Out In Force To Help

EAST HAMPTON, NY — The East Hampton community is coming together in a show of fierce solidarity and force to help a friend detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.

The outpouring of support from friends and colleagues who know and love Luis Marin Castro paint a portrait of a community rocked by the ICE detainment they say has ripped a man they call kind and hardworking from the heart of his home.

According to a GoFundMe page, "Bring Luis Home," which has raised $47,665 of its $58,000 goal so far, Marin Castro was approached and detained by ICE on April 9.

Efforts are dedicated to raising money to help support his legal expenses, while his friends and legal team fight to bring him home to his wife, two younger sisters, father and mother, the page said.

Rachael Yong Yow, public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explained why Marin Castro was detained in a statement to Patch: "On April 9, ICE deportation officers arrested Luis Marin Castro, an illegally present national and citizen of Ecuador, as part of a targeted immigration enforcement operation. He has a DUI conviction from July 2015," she wrote in an email. "Upon his arrest, deportation officers issued him a notice to appear before an immigration judge, and he is currently in ICE custody."

Friends are working tirelessly to provide legal counsel and find answers so Marin Castro can be brought back to New York.

"Luis has been a community member of East Hampton since he arrived with his family from Ecuador in 1997," the GoFundMe page said, adding that he attended East Hampton High School and graduated from Suffolk County Community College.

"You might have gotten to know Luis as part of the Nick & Toni’s staff family, where he’s worked for the last six years, working his way up from a young busser to sommelier," the page said. "His love for wine led him to a second job at the Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits store, where perhaps he has helped you pick out just the right wine for a dinner party or a special gift."

At both places, the page said, "He always greeted you with that contagious smile of his, which go hand in hand with his kind heart and zest for life . . . Our goal is to bring Luis home safely and as quickly as possible."

Chimene Visser Macnaughton, who owns Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits, said supporters are working hard to provide his legal team with a file bursting with character letters; letters have been pouring in and she hopes to continue to hear from his teachers, friends, fellow wine professionals, colleagues and friends.

Since he was picked up by ICE, Macnaughton said her employee and friend was moved to Central Islip, then the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ, to Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, NM — and on Tuesday, to El Paso, TX.

Character letters attesting to his close ties to the community are critical, Macnaughton said. Letters should be send as a Word doc attached to an email sent to wainscottmain@gmail.com with the subject header "Luis Marin Letter."

His absence has already left a "gaping hole" in the fabric of the East Hampton community where he holds dual roles as a restaurant and retail manager and sommelier in a "highly seasonal community"; that absence means a hardship not only for his family, but for his employers, who rely upon the excellent caliber of his work ethic to keep their businesses running smoothly, Macnaughton said.

Personally, his absence has hit the community hard, Macnaughton said. "Everywhere I go, I connect with another person that he's interacted with," she said.

Sister Margaret Smyth of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate in Riverhead said despite the anxiety his detainment has caused Marin Castro's family and friends, for the most part, ICE actions on the East End have been confined to specific cases, such as individuals who have had a prior arrest and conviction, or an instance where an individual may have crossed the border, been stopped and directed to a court appearance, and then, not appeared.

Smyth said she can confirm at least one other individual was picked up by ICE on the South Fork, from Hampton Bays, last week. "They're targeting specific people for specific reasons," she said. "There have been no raids." And the immigrant population has not expressed alarm, she said. "Most people don't even know this happened."

But in East Hampton, the confusion and questions about why Marin Castro has been moved so often are escalating as scores rally to help, doing all they can to bring him back to the East End. "I can only imagine how he must be feeling," Macnaughton said.

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.

Photo courtesy GoFundMe.