‘Bring Ernesto Home’: Protesters call for Guthrie’s support of ICE-detained teen

Published 10:14 am Saturday, June 21, 2025

By David Horowitz

1/15
Dozens of protestors with SOKY Indivisible and from the community gather to demand action by U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, for the release of Ernesto Manuel-Andres, a Bowling Green 18 year old who was seized and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the beginning of June despite paperwork being shown that grants him eligibility to be in the U.S. with a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status, outside the congressman’s local office on Friday, June 20, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS

DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

 

Scores of demonstrators echoed one main sentiment as they approached the parking lot before the local congressman’s Bowling Green office: “Hey, Brett Guthrie, Bring Ernesto Home.”

They were among about 100 protesting near Guthrie’s office, along Wilkinson Trace, on Friday to demand that Guthrie, at minimum, issue a statement in support of Ernesto Manuel-Andres. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained the Bowling Green-based teenager June 4 despite legal authorization to stay in the U.S., according to the law firm and the nonprofit working with Manuel-Andres.

Eight demonstrators with SOKY Indivisible, Bowling Green Neighbors Aid Network, Bowling Green Freedom Walkers and the Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign had staged a sit-in within the foyer of Rep. Brett Guthrie’s Bowling Green office building. The doors were eventually locked, and the Sheriff’s Office, which was called in, told those in the act of nonviolent civil disobedience to vacate.

They did so as the scores who had moved to the building from Wilkinson Trace cheered them on. The eight were banned specifically from Guthrie’s office within the building, said Cathy Severns, of SOKY Indivisible.

“We feel that he does have a role in bringing Ernesto home,” Severns said. “We feel that he does have the responsibility of making a public statement in support of Ernesto.”

She and the demonstrators also called for Guthrie to intervene and facilitate bringing Manuel-Andres home.

A spokesman for Guthrie said in a statement: “In line with the House Committee on Ethics recommendations, Congressman Guthrie’s office has a long-standing policy of not interfering with individuals’ ongoing judicial proceedings.”

Manuel-Andres has a mainly procedural master immigration hearing and then a bond hearing Monday, according to Fugees Family, the nonprofit supporting him.

ICE charged that Manuel-Andres, an 18-year-old who recently graduated from Bowling Green Independent School District, had entered the country unlawfully. Manuel-Andres’ attorneys have said that Manuel-Andres, who has no criminal background, has legal authorization to stay in the U.S. and protection from deportation.

“I’m going to be honest with you: I really thought this would have been over within 24 hours of him being detained,” Fugees Family Founder and CEO Luma Mufleh said. “… (that) they would have said, ‘We made a mistake, you’re right.’

We faxed over his paperwork as soon as we located him, and he wasn’t … If the law is followed, he should be granted bond. If the law is followed, his case should be dismissed.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has granted Manuel-Andres the legal classification Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) – for youth who’ve survived abandonment, abuse or neglect, Beata Leja, principal attorney at the law firm Minsky, McCormick and Hallagan, PC, has said. In Manuel-Andres’ case, the Department of Homeland Security also granted him Deferred Action, which provides legal protection from deportation, she has said.

“We’re standing up for someone who’s been done wrong,” Bowling Green resident Gerry Brown said at the protest. “Ernesto had his paperwork in order, he was free to be here, he was taken away from here without any kind of official action, such as a warrant or being indicted for something, and taking several states away. He’s one of us. That could be any one of us.”

William Compton, who’s running as congressman for the second district, also showed support for Manuel-Andres.

“Ernesto is a constituent here in the second district,” Compton said. “He is a teenager who’s here legally. He is someone who has committed no crimes and was taken illegally by ICE. So we need to stand up for what’s right. And what’s right is bringing him back to Bowling Green, and Brett Guthrie is not standing up for that, so that’s why I’m out here.”

Another demonstrator, William Hornsby, expressed a disgust with ICE’s actions that was shared by many other protesters.

“People that legally are supposed to be able to reside in Bowling Green are being taken for I don’t know what reason, and that’s terrible,” Hornsby said.

You Might Like

Print Article