Maklim Gomez Escalante remains in federal custody after returning from a hospital last week to the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center in Clearfield County, his family says.
Gomez Escalante, 35, of Brentwood in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, was taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Jan. 20. His family says he has a legal work permit, is in the asylum process, and has no criminal record.
His wife, Natalia Garcia de Gomez, heard from a fellow inmate of her husband’s that he’d been taken to a hospital on Feb. 2. At that point, his whereabouts became unknown.
The couple came to the United States in 2021 from El Salvador.
Two days later, when he was returned to Moshannon Valley, Gomez Escalante was able to contact his wife. He wasn’t allowed to contact his wife while receiving medical care.
Rebecca Mackin, a friend and former neighbor of the family, told TribLive on Monday that Gomez Escalante had been “handcuffed to the hospital bed at all times, with one hand being freed at meal times only.”
Gomez Escalante told his family that he was taken to a hospital via ambulance after experiencing possible stroke-like symptoms, including partial facial paralysis.
“He wasn’t 100% sure,” Mackin said, as to where he had been taken. “He had no access to anything.”
ICE did not immediately return a TribLive request for comment Monday on Gomez Escalante’s detainment and medical statuses.
At the unknown medical facility, Gomez Escalante underwent numerous tests and bloodwork, according to Mackin.
“We have no idea exactly what was found,” she said. “He was discharged, taken back to the facility.”
He was informed that he is supposed to continue receiving treatment while in detention at Moshannon Valley, but he was not given any paperwork at discharge to know exactly what happened, she said.
As of Monday, Gomez Escalante has yet to receive more medical treatment, Mackin said, which is causing “concern” for the Gomez family.
His first hearing
Judge Leila McNeill Mullican, a federal immigration judge based in Elizabeth, N.J., presided over Gomez Escalante’s first hearing, which took place Feb. 5, Mackin said.
Mackin, who is a Spanish teacher, watched the hearing via video. It also included other men from Moshannon Valley.
“The vast majority were Spanish speakers,” she said, though the men were from various ethnicities. All of them were dressed in beige jackets and pants and wore neon orange winter skullcaps, according to Mackin.
Those who had legal representation went first, Mackin said. The Gomez family is still “desperately trying to obtain” legal representation.
“(The Gomez family has) just really struggled to find legal representation. Everyone’s so maxed out — everyone’s at capacity, telling us that once somebody is already detained, it’s almost not even worth getting representation,” she said.
Mackin said that at one point in the hearing, the judge told Gomez Escalante he could apply for asylum. Mackin, who had been granted permission to speak during the hearing, told the judge that Gomez Escalante has been in the asylum process since entering the U.S. in Texas in 2021.
The judge replied that “she did not have any of that paperwork or information provided to her,” Mackin said. A representative from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was able to locate Gomez Escalante’s asylum paperwork during the hearing.
The judge then set the next hearing date for Feb. 24, sending him back to Moshannon Valley in the meantime.
Judge Mullican’s office did not immediately return TribLive’s request for comment Monday.
Gomez Escalante’s status on ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System is listed as “in ICE custody” in the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center.
Mackin started a GoFundMe page last week for the family with the goal of raising $25,000. It is up to over $11,000 as of Monday night.
Despite feeling relief at knowing her husband’s whereabouts, Garcia de Gomez and her family members didn’t go to work on Friday — and she didn’t send her children to school Friday or Monday either, according to Mackin, especially because they walk to attend Brentwood School District.
“It doesn’t seem that people are playing by the rules at this point,” Mackin said. “Anything can happen.”