Jesus Cora wins long-fought deportation case

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Seven years after he was pulled from a small boat in the San Juan Islands and hauled to a federal detention center in Tacoma, Orcas Island landscaper Jesus Cora — known to friends as “Chucho” — has won his fight against deportation.

A federal immigration judge in Seattle ruled in late July that Cora qualifies for cancellation of removal, closing a case that stretched across two presidential administrations.

“He has convinced the judge that he should not be deported. That’s the easiest way to put it,” said Eleanor Hoague, co-chairperson of the Local Immigrant Family Treasury, known as LIFT, and a former immigration attorney who sat through the hearing, in an interview with the Journal.

As the Journal reported at the time, the case dates back to Jan. 29, 2019, when the U.S. Coast Guard, accompanied by a Customs and Border Patrol agent, boarded a small boat carrying Cora to his landscaping job on Trump Island, a private island in the San Juan Islands named back in the mid-1870s, a route he had traveled for a decade. Unable to produce satisfactory proof of citizenship, Cora, who is originally from Acapulco, was detained and transferred to the ICE Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. According to that 2019 report, another individual on the boat was also detained and chose to return to his country of origin rather than fight deportation.

The Journal’s original 2019 coverage noted that Cora, who had lived on Lopez Island for 14 years before moving to Orcas, was a well-known Fourth of July parade volunteer, youth soccer coach and owner of a landscaping business. His wife, Leslin, had lived on Orcas for 17 years when the couple married in 2018. That report also detailed how an emergency loan of $12,000 from LIFT allowed him to post bond and return home to his wife and four children within weeks, and quoted Leslin saying it was the first time in 10 years the Coast Guard had stopped the boat that carried him to work. Hoague said Cora’s landscaping business now employs seven people.

At the July 28 hearing at the federal building on Second and Madison in Seattle, Cora’s attorney presented years of evidence documenting the hardship his family would suffer if deported. The filing included medical and school records for his wife and children, along with letters attesting to his character. Hoague said Cora and his attorney spent two years preparing evidence and six days before the hearing rehearsing testimony over and over again.

To win cancellation of removal, Hoague explained, an applicant must prove continuous presence in the United States for at least 10 years, good moral character, no criminal record, a clean tax history and that deportation would cause “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent or child. Cora met every element, but because the government caps the number of approved cases annually, he must now wait roughly four years before the judge can formally enter the ruling.

Hoague described how the judge delivered his ruling from the bench: “[The judge said] I will give you this relief, but I can’t give it to you until your number comes up [in four years],” she recalled.

Until then, Cora remains undocumented but shielded from deportation, free to keep living and working on Orcas. Hoague described an emotional scene as the ruling came down.

“His wife wept. So did one of the people, one of his employers who showed up for the hearing,” she said. When it was over, after celebrating with the attorney, Cora’s wife asked what came next.

“I guess we go back to the island,” he told her.

Judy Scott, who has guided LIFT’s work since its founding, said in an interview with the Journal that the organization was created during Trump’s first term to provide legal support for people caught up in “draconian immigration policies.” LIFT was dissolved during the Biden administration and reconstituted after Trump’s re-election.

“It was to support people affected by Trump … to provide legal support for people affected by Trump’s immigration policies. And that’s when Chucho was detained; it was during Trump’s first term,” Scott said.

LIFT operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Orcas Island Community Foundation, and donations go to its discretionary fund. Scott said LIFT now assists residents countywide, including helping retain an attorney for one of the three women detained near San Juan Island on July 7, 2026.

Scott was emphatic that LIFT is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

“We are connecting people with immigration experts, expert lawyers,” she said, noting LIFT’s advisory committee includes lawyers and community members committed to immigrant justice. That matters, she said, because unscrupulous operators have taken advantage of vulnerable families. She pointed to the Lozano law firm, shut down and barred from practice after reports of fraudulent, scam-like representation of immigrant clients statewide.

“We feel it’s important to vet our lawyers we’re referring people to and make sure that they’re getting quality legal services,” Scott said.

Both women stressed that anyone concerned about their own status should not wait to reach out. Residents can connect with LIFT through their island’s resource center — the Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center, or the centers on Lopez and Orcas. Hoague said having an attorney “of record” in place before any detention is critical because attorneys cannot speak with a detained client until a form called a G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, is signed, authorizing representation. She said trying to arrange this after someone is already detained could be too late and too hurried to do properly.

Hoague said Cora’s case also reinforced a hard lesson for the community: avoid travel by private boat.

“Do not board a private boat. You are risking being detained by the Coast Guard with an ICE agent on board, and you will be asked for your illegal status,” she said, noting the same scenario played out with the three women detained near San Juan Island.

She also strongly urged all residents with pending immigration matters to make sure back taxes are fully filed, since a clean tax record supports good moral character, and to build community ties through volunteering or church involvement, since letters of support carry real weight in these hearings.

“This is the first case that we really have concluded and have been able to achieve what we wanted,” Hoague said. “It’s hard. It’s hard in this time to achieve that. And I want people to know as best we can that this was a real success.”

Scott and Hoague said the win reflects wider community effort. Since 2019, LIFT’s costs in Cora’s case have reached roughly $21,000, with more expected, and donations — including a surge after news coverage of the three detained women — continue to fund the work. Anyone wishing to support LIFT can also donate through the Orcas Island Community Foundation, designating the LIFT Discretionary Fund, or reach out to your island’s resource center.