About Paul Pierrilus

Paul Pierrilus was born to Haitian parents in the French territory of St. Martin and immigrated to the United States when he was five years old. He grew up as a true New Yorker and lived in the U.S. for 35 years as an active member of his community.

Because of punitive immigration laws, an immigration judge ordered Paul to be deported on the basis of a 2003 drug-related conviction that has since been fully and unconditionally pardoned by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. But because Paul could not be returned to Haiti at that time, he was allowed to remain in the United States under an order of supervision that required him to check in with ICE on a regular basis.

Paul complied with this order for almost 15 years until ICE unexpectedly detained him at a check-in during the last days of the Trump administration. His community fought to keep him home, but in the middle of the night in February 2021, ICE put him on a plane to Haiti, a country he had never before set foot in. For the past four years he has been living in hiding, under conditions that are extraordinarily dangerous and inhumane.