A Canadian-born dentist who went to an immigration interview in Minneapolis expecting to advance his path towards permanent residency was instead taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
William Lizardo was attending the green card interview with his attorney when the meeting took an unexpected turn, according to his wife, Lauren Lizardo. She said their lawyer was present when the dentist was detained and later informed her about what had happened.
“It was my worst fear that I never thought would happen and now it’s happening,” Lauren said.
The couple met while studying at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and married soon after graduating. They now have an 18-month-old daughter.
Lauren, who sponsored her husband’s green card application, said the family had believed they were following the correct immigration procedures. However, they were informed in January that his application had been denied.
Because William had not been authorised to work, Lauren said he had been volunteering at a low-cost dental clinic in Burnsville, Minnesota. She said the couple initially lacked the financial resources to hire an immigration lawyer after graduation but decided to pursue the application again with legal representation.
“We thought we were doing everything right; the attorney said we were doing everything right. He said we would have no problem getting a green card,” Lauren said.
Their lawyer, David Whalen, told WCCO that William appeared to be an exceptionally strong candidate for permanent residency.
“When it came to achieving a green card, Will was ‘probably the best candidate I’d ever had,’” Whalen said.
Whalen said he was accompanying William during Friday’s interview when the official conducting the meeting suddenly left the room and returned with two ICE agents, who took him into custody.
“It’s very straightforward that they [the government] screwed up,” Whalen said.
According to Lauren, the family also discovered for the first time that William had an outstanding deportation order. The order stemmed from his failure to appear before an immigration judge after the government sent a notice to an address in Virginia where the couple had not lived for more than two years.
“We had no way of knowing there was this notice to appear, but they still detained him because he didn’t appear to something we didn’t know was happening,” Lauren said.
Lauren said she and her husband had been diligent about keeping records and regularly monitored his immigration case through an online portal.
She added that William had attended appointments with immigration authorities in recent months, including fingerprinting, while official correspondence from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continued to arrive at their current home in Victoria, Minnesota.
Despite those interactions, Lauren said neither she nor her husband had been informed about the deportation order or the missed immigration hearing.
As of Friday night, ICE had not responded to WCCO’s request for information regarding William’s detention.
Whalen said he planned to file an emergency motion seeking William’s release.
While waiting for developments, Lauren said she was uncertain about when she would see her husband again and appealed for what she described as fair and compassionate treatment.
“I want a fair chance and I want to be treated with compassion and kindness. I feel like I haven’t been given that opportunity, and Will hasn’t either,” she said.
