Cooperstown Asylum Applicant Pedro Mieles Deported to Ecuador

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

Pedro Mieles, an asylum applicant from Ecuador who was detained during a routine immigration check-in in Albany last summer, was deported to Ecuador on January 8.

Mieles had fled to the U.S. after what he said was persecution from narco-terrorists in his home country of Ecuador. He worked at The Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown.

The Otsego County District Attorney’s Office told AllOtsego they did not have any criminal or arrest record for Mieles, and he said he has never been charged with a crime here or in Ecuador. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to AllOtsego’s requests for comment for this story, including questions about their rationale for detaining Mieles.

“When I went to the ICE offices, I went with the intention of doing things right, and I feel like I was deceived,” Mieles told AllOtsego.

Boyd Richards of Cooperstown, a friend of Mieles and fellow church congregant, drove him to the Albany check-in last summer.

“They come and get Pedro. And I say, ‘Well, can I come too?’ And they say, ‘No,’ and I never see Pedro again.” About an hour later, Richards said, ICE employees informed him Mieles had been detained and he needed to leave.

Under the Trump administration, such detentions at scheduled check-ins for immigrants with pending cases have become common. Mieles said his asylum case was originally scheduled to be heard by a judge in October 2027 in Chicago.

After being detained, Mieles was transferred to an ICE facility near Buffalo, in Batavia.

“After that, I was taken to Texas where I spent the night. Then, in the early morning, I was transferred to Alexandria [Virginia] where I spent about three hours before being transferred to Louisiana where I was detained for five months,” Mieles said.

Mieles’ efforts with a lawyer in Louisiana to secure his freedom while awaiting a hearing were unsuccessful. After months in detention, Mieles opted for deportation.

Mieles described conditions in detention as “terrible,” drinking tap water and eating “very little food” of “very poor quality.” Smells from toilets nearby “made it impossible to eat.”

“When our clothes were sent to be washed and we wore them, our bodies would itch because the clothes weren’t washed properly,” Mieles said, adding that the facility “only washed them with a liquid supposedly for disinfection, but it wasn’t effective. We used that same liquid to disinfect the toilets.”

To speak with his family in Ecuador, Mieles would call Richards with commissary money, who would put another phone with them on WhatsApp next to it.

Mieles said that most of those he was detained with did not have criminal records, though some did have traffic violations.

“I never knew of anyone there who had robbed or murdered someone,” he said.

Richards told AllOtsego that $5,000.00 had been raised for Mieles’ legal fees, and a further $700.00 at a Christmas party of the Lions Club to send to his family.

“God willing,” Mieles now hopes to head to Mexico to join his brother and escape potential persecution in Ecuador.

Mieles said he found people in Cooperstown to be “very kind, polite, generous, and sociable,” and thanked those who have supported him.

“I send my sincere gratitude and pray that God will bless you abundantly for all your support and concern. I hope to thank you personally someday, and may God allow you to keep your hearts full of charity and love,” Mieles said.

Pedro Mieles’ statements were made in written Spanish. They were translated via Google Translate, and reviewed for accuracy by a Spanish speaker.