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\u201cAlias Ceviche: Un Periodista Peruano. 7 C\u00e1rceles del ICE,\u201d by Ricardo Quintana Ch\u00e1vez<\/p>\nAs a journalist, it\u2019s been instinct for Ricardo Quintana Ch\u00e1vez to record his surroundings \u2013 writing in his reporter\u2019s notebook or recording on his cellphone whenever something caught his eye.<\/p>\n
During his time in Alligator Alcatraz then at Camp East Montana \u2013 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities fraught with allegations of human rights abuses \u2013 the only tool available to him was his memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mind is trained to see everything from a journalistic point of view,\u201d Quintana told El Paso Matters in Spanish during a recent phone interview from his home in Callao, Peru, near Lima. \u201cI saw so many things, but I didn\u2019t have a pencil or paper so I had to tell myself, \u2018Take note, remember this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u00bfPero al igual, c\u00f3mo lo puedo olvidar?\u201d he said, \u201cBut then, how can I forget?\u201d<\/p>\n
Quintana, 57, of Peru, had lived in the United States for four years when police last summer detained him for selling ceviche without a permit on a Florida beach \u2013 a civil infraction that typically carries a fine. Instead, he was arrested and transferred to ICE custody despite having a pending asylum case that allowed him to remain and work in the country while awaiting his immigration hearing. He spent about 50 days in ICE detention before being deported in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlias Ceviche: Un Periodista Peruano. 7 C\u00e1rceles del ICE,\u201d by Ricardo Quintana Ch\u00e1vez<\/p>\n
Now, eight months later, Quintana has self-published a book, \u201cAlias Ceviche: Un Periodista Peruano. 7 C\u00e1rceles del ICE,\u201d documenting his experiences being held at county and ICE\u00a0 detention facilities after his arrest. The 172-page paperback and a Kindle edition were released in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a story of hate. It is not a political manifesto. There might be moments in which this reads like a grievance and I won\u2019t apologize for that,\u201d the epilogue reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cPero no es el prop\u00f3sito. Es simplemente lo que vi, lo que sent\u00ed, lo que aprend\u00ed en esas semanas que cambiaron mi vida para siempre,\u201d he writes. \u201cThat is not its purpose. It\u2019s simply what I saw, what I felt and what I learned in those weeks that changed my life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security said a pending asylum case or work authorization does not confer any type of legal status in the United States. \u201cIf a person enters our country illegally, they are subject to detention or deportation. Each illegal alien receives due process,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
Quintana is among the estimated 400,000 immigrants who have been booked into immigration detention from an interior arrest \u2013 and not at the border \u2013 since President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January 2025, according to the Brookings Institute.<\/p>\n
The DHS in January claimed more than 600,000 people had been deported in 2025, including those turned back at the border by Customs and Border Protection, though tracking organizations put ICE deportations closer to 350,000 without counting the turnbacks. An ICE flight monitor under the organization Human Rights First<\/a> reports at least 3,300 deportation flights from January 2025 to May of this year, though passenger counts per flight are not publicly available.<\/p>\n The widely criticized mass detention efforts have led to a multitude of accusations of human rights and federal detention practice violations, including at Camp East Montana.\u00a0<\/p>\n While additional mass detention centers were slated to open under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, including in El Paso, acting ICE Director David Venturella recently indicated the planned industrial warehouse park in the city of Socorro slated to hold 8,500 detainees will be scaled down and instead include a training center<\/a>, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said.<\/p>\n And just about a year after opening, Alligator Alcatraz<\/a> \u2014 an immigration detention facility inside the Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Florida \u2014\u00a0completed transferring all its detainees to other facilities this month, with the Department of Homeland Security citing hurricane concerns. DHS hasn\u2019t disclosed how many people were moved or where they were moved to, and didn\u2019t say whether the Everglades facility will be permanently closed.<\/p>\n From Quintana\u2019s point of view, the mass detention centers should have never opened so quickly and on such a large scale \u2013 or at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his book, Quintana recounts seeing guards insult and assault detainees and detainees fight for scraps of food \u2013 often ham sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He describes the smell of toilets overflowing without immediate cleanup \u2013 two to three toilets with no dividers per cell for 70 or more detainees. He recalls hearing detainees cry of anger, of fear, of pain.<\/p>\n He recounts being shackled to the floor at Alligator Alcatraz. He describes the detention centers being overtly cold, with the lights turned on at all hours. He describes poor medical care detainees received \u2013 if any at all \u2013 citing as an exception a healthcare provider who showed some compassion toward him and other detainees.<\/p>\n DHS in a statement regularly issued to media in response to such allegations said all detainees are provided with three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap and toiletries and that certified dieticians evaluate meals. The agency said it provides \u201ccomprehensive medical care\u201d to detainees, and that for many, \u201cthis is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.\u201d<\/p>\n In his book, Quintana, who was nicknamed Ceviche while in ICE custody, also recounts stories of his fellow detainees. He writes about them under their aliases, not always recalling their real names or at times protecting their identities, he said.<\/p>\n There was Bacteria, a 40-something plumber from Cuba who was often breakdancing to entertain others, and Chispita, a 20-something Venezuelan who openly talked about being gay until a newly arrived Jamaican detainee threatened him. They were eventually sent to different cells.<\/p>\n There was Chiquitito, a young Honduran who resembled actor Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson \u2013 only a lot shorter. Quintana overheard Chiquitito talk to his father on a video call. He asked his father for forgiveness for some unknown wrong he had committed against the family back home. The father responded, \u201cnever,\u201d Quintana writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n And then there was Luis Frio<\/a>, a Venezuelan mechanic and influencer well-known for his \u201chow to\u201d social media videos. While detained in Alligator Alcatraz, Frio became severely ill and was hospitalized. It was rumored he had died. But Frio had been transferred to Camp East Montana and was eventually deported. He\u2019s continued gaining followers on his social media platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Detainees passed the time reading and playing cards, some did wall pushups or situps on their bunks. But mostly, they paced and they slept. And they prayed to go home, Quintana writes.<\/p>\n \u201cLa gente no quer\u00eda quedarse m\u00e1s en los Estados Unidos. Quer\u00eda su esquina, la se\u00f1ora de la tienda, la comida de su mam\u00e1,\u201d a passage from his book reads. \u201cY el sistema los ten\u00eda ah\u00ed, sin decirles ni cu\u00e1ndo ni por qu\u00e9, destruy\u00e9ndolos de a pocos con esa luz artificial y ese fr\u00edo programado.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe people no longer wanted to remain in the United States. They wanted their corner, the lady at the store, their mother\u2019s cooking. And the system kept them there, without telling them when or why, slowly destroying them with that artificial light and that programmed cold.\u201d<\/p>\n Quintana first came to the United States on a visitor visa for a few weeks in 2019 to spend time with his daughters, who had emigrated years prior. He came back to Florida in 2021 on a visitor\u2019s visa. While there, he said, he received death threats at his Peru home for his coverage and criticism of the controversial Peruvian presidential elections that were replete with corruption scandals. He sought asylum.<\/p>\n He said it was never his intention to remain in the United States, but he feared going home under the volatile political climate. He had authorization to work while his asylum case was heard, so he picked up a job as a dishwasher. Eventually he landed some freelance work for Spanish-language media outlets and marketing companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finding that there was an interest in Peruvian food in Florida, he sold homemade ceviche and papas rellenas to make a little extra money.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNo vend\u00eda un plato, vend\u00eda peruanidad. Cada taper era un embajador con lim\u00f3n, aj\u00ed y a culantro,\u201d he writes. \u201cI wasn\u2019t selling food, I was selling Peruvianness. Every container was an ambassador with lime, chile pepper and cilantro.\u201d<\/p>\n When he was detained by Miami Beach police, he was transferred to ICE custody and detained in a federal processing center in Miami Dade County. He was later transferred to the Everglades Detention Facility, also known as Alligator Alcatraz, then to an ICE tent facility in Northeast El Paso before ending up in the East Montana Detention Facility known as Camp East Montana.<\/p>\n When he finally agreed to an \u201cexit bonus,\u201d a monetary incentive to give up their cases and agree to be deported, he was sent to the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in South Texas near Harlingen. Shackled at the wrists, waist and feet, he was bused to the Harlingen airport and flown to Peru.<\/p>\n Back home, he said the federal government paid him the promised $1,000 via Western Union, buying himself basic necessities and saving the rest. With some savings and money he had sent home, he published his memoir.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was difficult writing this book. I had lots of emotions. I felt shame, embarrassment, anger and humiliation,\u201d Quintana told El Paso Matters. \u201cAs soon as I was out, I began to write. I cried a lot. I still do when I re-read some passages.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still getting my life back together,\u201d said Quintana, who has started a news podcast in Callao. \u201cI think with this book I was able to release, to talk about, a lot of what I\u2019ve been holding back and I think what a lot of people like me are going through at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ICE-Camp-East-Montana-DetentionCenter.jpg\")
Camp East Montana, the largest Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center, sits on Fort Bliss land in El Paso, Texas. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26168679352403-1.jpg\")
Trucks come and go from the \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Florida. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG-20260604-WA00182.jpg\")
Ricardo Quintana Ch\u00e1vez, center, presents his self-published book about his time in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention during a press conference at the city of Callao, Peru, May 2026. (Courtesy Ricardo Quintana Ch\u00e1vez)<\/p>\n