A former Nicaraguan paramilitary faces possible deportation from the U.S. after being detained by immigration authorities MEXICO CITY -- A former Nicaraguan paramilitary detained by U.S. immigration authorities could soon be deported to the country where he said he was imprisoned and tortured — or sent to another country where he would be rendered stateless. Marlon Gerardo Sáenz Cruz, 65, who defected from the ruling Sandinista party, was among 222 prisoners stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship and brought to D.C. through a U.S. State Department initiative in February 2023.
Now, after being detained during his check-in with immigration authorities in Los Angeles on Aug. 17, he must make his case before an immigration judge to remain in the U.S. His immigration court date on Sept. 8 comes as asylum denial rates have spiked under the Trump administration and as people granted lesser protections from deportation are increasingly being sent to third countries in Latin America and Africa where they have no ties. Sáenz's detention followed a letter sent to the U.S.
State Department last year by a group of Nicaraguan exiles, mainly in Miami. They allege that he and dozens of other former government officials maintain their ties to the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-President Rosario Murillo. The exiles also accused Sáenz of harassing other government opponents while in the U.S.
A legal representative for Sáenz said he was simply responding to attacks against him. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau responded to Carrion-Vanegas on X, saying he would look into the allegations. She has not heard from him since.
State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Sáenz’s potential deportation to Nicaragua would send a message that “discourages future defections and reinforces the regime’s narrative that there is no safe exit,” said accredited court representative Muriel Sáenz, who has been assisting with his asylum application and is not related to him. Sáenz, known in Nicaragua as El Chino Enoc, became a guerrilla fighter as a teenager in the 1970s and remained close to high-level Sandinista figures for decades.
He later spoke to Nicaraguan press about his involvement in a government-aligned paramilitary group that repressed protesters following mass anti-government marches demanding Ortega’s resignation in 2018. Ortega has claimed the 2018 protests were a U.S.-backed coup to overthrow him and that those imprisoned were involved in the plot. Sáenz's accredited representative denied that he had killed anyone or committed any crime in Nicaragua.
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