Degnis Bofill, a Miami-based percussionist and Latin Grammy winner, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on August 19 as he returned home from performances in New York. He is now held at the Krome North Service Processing Center, even though his asylum application, filed after he entered the country on a visa in 2023, has not yet reached its first interview.

Bofill's wife, Mara Delgado, said agents gave him only a brief phone call before he was taken away. "They let him call me very briefly. I told him not to sign anything," she told the Miami New Times. ICE has said Bofill did not meet the conditions of his 2023 admission, but has not detailed what that means for a case still awaiting its first review.

This is not an isolated case. Days earlier, pianist Andy Garcia Palacios was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and moved to a facility in Adelanto, California. Two working musicians, both contributors to their cities' cultural life, detained at airports within the same week, before either had a chance to make their case in an immigration hearing.

Bofill has spent nearly two decades building a career around Afro-Cuban music, performing alongside major artists and running workshops in his community. Whatever one believes about immigration enforcement, due process should come before removal, not after.

Sign the petition to demand Bofill's release from Krome North and a fair hearing on his asylum claim, before his case is decided without him ever being heard.