A Dancer, Taken By ICE

Andrés Molano Moreno and Claire Kepple met in March in a salsa class. They fell in love, and they got married in mid-September.  

Last Friday, they traveled from their apartment in Washington Heights to JFK, planning to fly to California to visit Kepple’s family. Instead, Kepple told me, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded the couple at the gate and detained Molano Moreno, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia.

ICE detentions in New York City have recently been the subject of national attention, after agents shot and wounded a Dominican immigrant, Oscar Belgal, in front of his five-year-old son in Marble Hill.

Many other people are in Molano Moreno’s quieter situation: people with no criminal record and deep ties to the United States, who may have broken an immigration rule at some point in their journey, and who suddenly find themselves pulled into the country’s vast immigrant-detention system.

“Like Somebody Just Died”

I first spoke with Kepple on Tuesday evening. According to public ICE records, Molano Moreno was locked up 20 miles away, at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark.

Kepple told me that Molano Moreno was raised in Bogotá, Colombia, and trained as an engineer. He grew up dancing in his aunt’s studio, though, and found his vocation as a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher. After coming to New York City in 2020, he quickly fell into the city’s dance scene, Kepple said. He has worked with students across the city, including as a salsa and jazz instructor at the nonprofit Dance Project of Washington Heights, where he has taught many neighborhood children.

Kepple said the couple had recently moved into a new apartment together.

Things changed abruptly last Friday. As ICE agents questioned the couple, Molano Moreno insisted that Kepple, who is a U.S. citizen, still board the flight they had planned to take together, she told me. She flew to California and spent the weekend at her sister’s house, frantically researching options and getting legal representation. Molano Moreno was able to call her from the facility, she said. 

She took a red-eye back to New York City. On Monday morning, she walked back into their apartment, still full of half-unpacked boxes from their recent move. “It kind of feels like somebody just died,” Kepple said. “Even though you know they’re alive, and they’re physically okay, but nothing is okay.” She was filling her days with advocacy and phone calls and research, and when she would pause, an awareness of a “horrible reality” would set in — that this person “could just be forcefully taken away from you.”

Community Support 

Word began to spread in the community. Heather White, the co-founder and director of the Dance Project of Washington Heights, said she got the news on Saturday and was “absolutely in shock.” She recalled Molano Moreno teaching a class of four- and five-year-olds and finding ways to channel their energy, and she told me about the extra efforts he had taken to reach a student dealing with ADHD. “He’s a very, very gentle, loving person,” she said.  

White’s 11-year-old daughter took classes with Molano Moreno. She’s still trying to figure out how to tell her what happened. 

White sent an email out to the Dance Project community on Monday, with a bilingual subject line that said “Emergency | Emergencia - Mr. Andres needs our help.” It linked to a GoFundMe fundraiser that Kepple set up to help cover legal expenses. The fundraiser quickly attracted hundreds of donors.

I spoke with Kepple again on Thursday morning. Her week had been tumultuous: a brief indication that Molano Moreno might be released from detention, followed by more waiting. She expressed gratitude for all the community support. 

As of Thursday night, Molano Moreno was still at Delaney Hall, and Kepple told me he has a hearing scheduled for Friday morning. She’s been able to speak with him more, and he’s shared some details about his life there: Breakfast comes very early. He’s in a room of 12 people. They’re passing the time playing cards and chess while they wait for whatever comes next.