The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an X post on Tuesday announcing that it recently began deportation proceedings against “sodomite” Jair Celis Lecuona, a 29-year-old father and soccer coach in Utah who immigrated from Mexico as a child and is currently married to a woman. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly took Lecuona into custody right before his final interview to receive a permanent resident card.

The DHS social media post accused Lecuona of being a “predator” for his alleged “criminal history for sodomy of a child and sexual abuse of a child.” Though juvenile court records show that Lecuona admitted to having unlawful sexual contact with a minor when he, too, was a minor, the evidence in the charge was adjudicated by a judge, rather than verified in a court trial, Celis’ lawyer Adam Crayk told The Salt Lake Tribune, adding that such state-level juvenile offenses aren’t considered convictions that can support a person’s detention or deportation by DHS.

Related

Kristi Noem wrongfully deports Mexican trans woman to face torture at home

DHS edited a screenshot of a Salt Lake Tribune headline atop a December 9 article about Lecuona’s arrest. The original headline said, “A Utah soccer coach was ‘following exactly’ process to get legal status — but ICE arrested him anyway.” The DHS edited the headline image to say, “A Utah sodomite was abusing children but ICE arrested him anyway.”

“DISGUSTING AND REVOLTING!” the DHS wrote in its post. “[The Salt Lake Tribune] has completely lost the plot in their indefensible spin for a SODOMITE AND CHILD ABUSER.” The post then accused Lecuona of having “a criminal history for sodomy of a child and sexual abuse of a child.”

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“Lecuona entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in July 2007 that required him to depart by January 21, 2008,” the DHS wrote. “On his green card application he listed his occupation as a youth soccer coach. While illegally overstaying his visa, he was arrested for these heinous crimes against children. This predator has been placed in removal proceedings.”

“If you break the law, you will face the consequences,” DHS added. “We are not going to give green cards to child predators.”

DISGUSTING AND REVOLTING! @sltrib has completely lost the plot in their indefensible spin for a SODOMITE AND CHILD ABUSER.

Here are the facts: Jair Celis Lecuona has a criminal history for sodomy of a child and sexual abuse of a child.

Lecuona entered the U.S. on a tourist visa… pic.twitter.com/iYIIWcbJs6

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 9, 2025

However, Crayk called the DHS claim “libelous”, untrue, and a violation of laws that require government agencies to get a person’s written consent before disclosing their private non-federal records of state-level juvenile justice proceedings. Crayk also noted that Lecuona’s juvenile justice records have nothing to do with Lecuona’s current detainment and deportation proceedings.

Lecuona did enter the U.S. in July 2007 on a tourist visa that required him to leave by Jan. 1, 2008; he turned 11 between those two dates. Then, between March 1, 2014, and April 30, 2014 — when Lecuona was 17 years old — he allegedly had nonconsensual sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl who attended his ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake County. Crayk said all the contact was consensual.

The girl told Murray Police Detective Tyson Badovinatz that on one occasion, Lecuona kissed and touched her, scaring her into leaving his side. She also said on another occasion that Lecuona got her behind closed doors, touched her, and made her touch his genitals. On a third occasion, Lecuona allegedly locked himself in a room with the girl and forbade her from leaving until she performed oral sex (which she did), she said.

Utah law states that a minor who is 14 or 15 can consent to having sex with a person who is less than four years older, according to the Utah law firm Conyers & Nix. However, in 2014, Lecuona was accused in 3rd District Juvenile Court of a second-degree felony allegation of sexual abuse of a child.

A court document summarizing Lecuona’s delinquency record said he admitted to a lesser offense, likely the result of a plea negotiation, that was adjudicated by a judge and sealed away in private state-level juvenile court records.

Crayk said that Lecuona’s incidents with the girl were consensual and occurred when both of the minors involved were teenagers. Though it “upset family at the time,” Crayk said, “this was not this type of situation that DHS is making it out to be…. They have absolutely lied.”

Crayk noted that such adjudications aren’t considered “convictions” that support ICE detention or deportation proceedings. The lawyer says ICE didn’t list Lecuona’s juvenile court records in its notice given to Lecuona upon his detainment; the notice only mentioned that Lecuona had overstayed his visa.

Thus, Crayk called the DHS’ claim libelous, saying the federal agency falsely implied that Lecuona was convicted of sodomy with a minor, adding, “That is 100% speculation going off of something that was never verified or ferreted out in a court of law.”

He also added that the federal Privacy Act of 1974 forbids federal agencies from disclosing a person’s records without written consent, and that the juvenile court records detailing the resolution of the allegations against Lecuona are neither public nor federal records.

“The federal government should not even be disclosing it at all,” Crayk said. “They can’t release to you whether or not he accepted responsibility, they can’t release to you whether or not he was put on probation, they can’t release any of that to you.”

“I’m blown away,” he continued. “I’ve never seen a United States government administration do what just happened here.” Crayk also noted that overstaying a visa is not itself a crime but rather a civil immigration matter that is often resolved by adjusting one’s residential status in a court.

ICE officers detained Lecuona when he was at his final green card interview with his wife. ICE transferred him to the San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona, where he now awaits deportation proceedings. Celis’ fellow attorney Andy Armstrong noted that Lecuona has no adult criminal record.

“So doing this and detaining him serves no purpose in his particular case,” Armstrong told KSL-TV. “It’s just a waste of resources and time that could be used to capture… immigrants with serious criminal records.” Lecuona’s next court appearance is scheduled for Friday, and his lawyers have gathered 250 letters from community members supporting his residence in the United States.

The current presidential administration has increasingly apprehended immigrants at their required government asylum and naturalization appointments, discouraging longtime U.S. residents from continuing to undergo the official process for legal residence.

In a Wednesday statement, Lecuona’s wife, Lexie Celis, asked for privacy “as we navigate these inhumane and awful circumstances that the Government has created for an innocent family.”

“As this process has played out, I knew that there would be lies and wrongful accusations, but to have it come from our own Government to fit their inhumane narrative and agenda is absolutely disgusting, but ultimately not surprising,” she said. “The people who know [Jair] know who he is — and it is nothing along the lines of what he has been accused. I’m grateful for the immense amount of support we have received.”

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.