An Eastern Shore pastor who was arrested by immigration agents Monday and taken to Baltimore for processing is in good spirits and is preaching to fellow detainees — but that preaching is now being done at a detention center in Louisiana.
Daniel Fuentes Espinal, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras with no criminal record, was transferred Thursday from Baltimore to the Winn Correctional Center outside New Orleans, a family friend said Friday.
“He’s a remarkably resilient man, and for all of the trauma that he has been subjected to and the stress that’s been inflicted upon him and on his family, he is upbeat and his spirits are good,” said Len Foxwell, speaking for the family.
Fuentes Espinal’s daughter, Clarissa Fuentes Diaz, had been speaking for the family earlier this week, but is now declining interviews for fear of retaliation, Foxwell said.
Fuentes Diaz spoke to her father Thursday before his transfer. Foxwell said. He said Fuentes Espinal’s attorney filed a motion for a bond hearing, which was approved and will take place next week.
Fuentes Espinal, his wife and daughter fled violence in their native Honduras in 2001, when Clarissa was 8 years old, and eventually came to the Eastern Shore where they put down roots and where two more children were born.
Since 2015, Fuentes Espinal has been pastor of Jesus Te Ama Iglesia del Nazareno [Jesus Loves You Church of the Nazarene] in Easton — an unpaid position. He works in construction to pay the family’s bills.
Fuentes Espinal had gone to a hardware store for construction materials for his job on Monday and was on his way to work when he was stopped by unidentified agents and arrested on immigration charges and taken to Baltimore. The family only learned of his whereabouts when he called later that night, as the family was about to file a missing persons report, his daughter said earlier this week.
Fuentes Diaz recently learned that she had been approved for U.S. citizenship, after a 16-year wait, and said both parents had been working to get documentation. “I was going to help my dad and mom get their papers straight,” but that was before her father was arrested, she said earlier this week.
His arrest comes amid a surge in immigration detentions, part of President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to enact mass deportations if reelected. The pressure to make arrests has led to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents frequenting areas where day-laborers gather, raiding businesses and sites that had previously been off-limits, like courthouses — and, according to critics, engaging in racial profiling to stop people simply for looking Hispanic.
In Maryland, immigration arrests jumped from about 3.7 per day in 2024 to 9.8 per day since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, according to data from the Deportation Data Project.
While Trump and Department of Homeland Security officials have said their immigration enforcement actions are aimed at removing the “worst of the worst” undocumented criminals in the U.S., only 45% of those arrested this year have criminal convictions and 40%, like Fuentes Espinal, have no criminal charges.
Fuentes Espinal’s case has drawn extensive media coverage as well as the attention of immigration advocates and members of Maryland’s congressional delegation. Foxwell said a gofundme page he set up for the family quickly surpassed its original goal of raising $15,000, and then a second goal of $25,000. As of Friday, it was inching toward a new goal of $40,000, which he said will come in handy if the Fuentes Espinal has to travel to Louisiana.
In the meantime, Fuentes Espinal remains upbeat and is trying to console his family, Foxwell said Friday.
“His exact words to his daughter were: ‘This must be God’s plan,’” Foxwell said.
Fuentes Espinal said he has been ministering to his fellow detainees, both in Baltimore and in Louisiana, Foxwell said.
“A preacher is going to preach, and he doesn’t necessarily need a church to talk about the grace of God,” Foxwell said.
Fuentes Diaz told Foxwell that her father said he’s aware of the coverage his case has attracted, and he is grateful.
“He is a true man of faith who embodies the teachings of Christ each and every day of his life,” Foxwell said. “He is remaining upbeat and resilient under a set of circumstances that would break most other people.”
by Lauren Lifke, Maryland Matters
July 26, 2025
Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].
Jim Wilkins says
I hope those who voted for Trump are proud of themselves and the gestapo (ICE) tactics of the people working for him. It confounds belief that these things are really happening in the land of the free and the home of the brave. The imprisonment and deportation of innocent people like Fuentes Diaz and the many other people who have no criminal records but who are in the US “illegally” begs the question- “how was our country founded and populated?” The answer of course is that people came from many places and were all “undocumented”. This will be recorded as another shameful period in American history. The free world is watching.
Mary M Yancey says
How does current immigration policy serve America’s interests? On several levels, from economic to public safety to morally and ethically, the Trump Administration’s aggressive deportation campaign does not serve us well.
Over 8 million unauthorized US workers contributed $73 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022 through the use of ITIN numbers, a voluntary process since they are not eligible for Social Security numbers. Additionally, these workers paid 33.9 billion in payroll deductions to Medicare, Social Security, and unemployment insurance, programs for which they are not eligible to receive benefits. Tracking down unauthorized tax-paying residents for deportation discourages the voluntary payment of taxes and drives otherwise lawful persons underground.
Residents fearful of deportation are less likely to cooperate with law enforcement if they become witnesses to or victims of crime. This allows criminals in our community to flourish as a segment of the population becomes vulnerable to extortion, abuse, and human trafficking.
From a moral and ethical standpoint, the US has allowed over 10 million unauthorized immigrants to remain in this country for decades – working, raising families, and otherwise contributing to the strength of our communities. For most of these residents there is NO PATH to legal residency and citizenship. Immigration enforcement has shifted wildly from administration to administration because we lack consistent, rational, and comprehensive immigration reform. Recent attempts at bipartisan immigration policy have been scuttled by extremists who see political benefit in the current dysfunctional system. To suddenly snatch long-standing residents off the street as they go about their daily lives, as has happened in this community and many others, is cruel and places us as US citizens in moral jeopardy. Each of us has an obligation to speak out to our elected leaders and let them know how we feel about this policy