This story was produced in collaboration with WKNO-FM public radio.
Delmar Gomez is among hundreds of immigrants arrested by the Memphis Safe Task Force. As of this story’s publication, he has been in Jena, Louisiana for more than a month awaiting a deportation hearing. But his case reveals a larger pattern by the Trump administration of portraying undocumented immigrants as dangerous criminals.
The 38-year-old Gomez was born in Guatemala. He’s been in Memphis for 20 years — cutting grass to make a living, and singing as part of his faith.
In a high-quality music opens in a new windowvideo in front of Memphis landmarks, Gomez and his bandmates wear suits and ties as they sing a song of welcome to the Holy Spirit. The band’s Spanish-language name translates to “Vision of Emanuel Group.”
They travel across the country playing in Pentecostal Christian churches.
In October, Gomez and his younger brother Eber, also a traveling Christian singer, were pulled over in a traffic stop in East Memphis. They were sent to a Louisiana detention center and held without bond. Their story was featured in a special report published yesterday by the Institute for Public Service Reporting.
Shortly after the arrest, the federal Department of Homeland Security issued a news release highlighting 11 people that it called “the worst of the worst” immigrants arrested in Memphis.
Delmar Gomez, it said, was arrested for aggravated assault. In another version of the release, the department published his mug shot, but listed the wrong name and called him a drug dealer and car thief from Mexico.
None of this is true.
“When I was first made aware of it, my immediate thought was do people think that all Hispanics look alike?” said immigration attorney Skye Austin with Latino Memphis, who represents Gomez.
She acknowledges that her client entered the U.S. illegally. But she says that besides driving offenses, Gomez has no criminal history.
“Seven local ministers have written me letters, and that’s on top of neighbors, friends, clients of Señor Delmar just wanting to let people know, ‘Hey, this is a good man. I know him personally,” Austin said.
The press release about Gomez also included unverifiable claims against several other men.
The federal Department of Homeland Security did not respond to our emails.
The news organization ProPublica and its partners have reported that the Trump Administration has repeatedly published false information about groups of immigrants. In one instance, the government deported Venezuelans that it called “terrorists,” when in fact most were ordinary immigrants with no criminal records.
And across the country, statistics show that most of the immigrants that the Trump administration is locking up have minor criminal records or no records at all.
This appears to be the case with Gomez, a father of four children, all U.S. citizens. His oldest, Nancy, is a high school senior.
“I just want to see him again,” she said. “I feel really something that has been taken away from me that I want back.”
She says the musician has always been an inspiration to others.
“Some of them don’t even know him,” she said. “But just by listening to his music makes him feel loved through his music.”
Gomez younger brother Eber, arrested with him in the vehicle, has already been deported to their native Guatemala.
Delmar Gomez has been locked up for more than a month and a half. With the arrival of his hearing in Louisiana later today, an immigration judge will finally decide if he’ll be deported — or if he can return to his wife, his children and his ministry of music.
