ICE agents arrested the husband of former Miss Hawaii Cheryl Bartlett last Tuesday, leaving the legally blind beauty queen struggling to cope on her own, according to KITV.Bartlett suffers from complications caused by type 1 diabetes. She says her husband of nearly 17 years, Rogerio Carlos Barbosa Araujo, was her constant support.”I’m legally blind at this point. I have some central vision, but almost no peripheral vision,” she said. “He took me to everything and brought me home. So, he was my helper, my helpmate. I mean, that’s the way marriages work.”Since the arrest, Bartlett has been forced to make difficult trips to the Federal Building to collect his belongings from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “He’s in the Federal Detention Center. It is a type of prison. He’s never been in prison,” she said.Rogerio is from Brazil, and he previously faced deportation in 2013 before an immigration judge put it on hold. Even after he married Cheryl, a US citizen, the marriage did not automatically grant him citizenship. Bartlett said a clerical error prevented him from obtaining a green card even after their wedding.ICE prepares to deport him, and Cheryl continues to defend her husband’s character. “He’s not a criminal, period. He is not a criminal,” she said.She has now made an emotional appeal to the authorities. “I am asking the immigration judges, the court, anyone who can, to extend grace to him so that he can stay with me. You know, we’re a family here in Hawaii.”Rogerio has been part of Hawaii’s independent film industry, and his friends are planning a rally at the Federal Building on Wednesday at 12:30 pm to show support and raise awareness about his case.Despite being devastated, Cheryl says she wants the protest to remain peaceful. “I’ve been told that people in the situation he is in could be deported at any time. He does have an attorney, so I’m hoping they’ll be respectful and allow him to go through due process.” She added, “I want those attending to only bring love to the ICE office, instead of anger or hate.”
