His family described it as a routine check-in with ICE for Ludovic Mbock, a 38-year-old regional video gaming champion who came to the U.S. from Cameroon legally as a teen and built a life in Oxon Hill.

But Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore arrested him two weeks ago and sent him to detention facilities in Louisiana and Georgia. Mbock’s lawyer and family fear he will soon be deported back to Cameroon, where he will not be safe.

“He’s an openly gay person. He won’t be able to survive in Cameroon,” said Mbock’s lawyer, Edward Neufville.

Cameroon punishes same-sex activity with fines and prison sentences of up to five years. Mbock also has no family in Cameroon, said his sister, Diane Sohna, who was born in the U.S.

In the past, the federal government was reluctant to send immigrants to countries with laws that threaten LGBTQIA+ people, but that changed under Trump, who in his second term embarked on a campaign of mass deportations. Campaigning on the issue, he promised to deport “the worse of the worst.”

His arrest has mobilized the gaming community, which has helped raise nearly $100,000 for his legal defense.

Neufville has filed a habeas petition challenging Mbock’s arrest. In response, U.S. District Court Judge George L. Russell III ruled that Mbock will remain in custody for 10 days after he requests a bond hearing in Immigration Court in Hyattsville, which Mbock can attend virtually.

Neufville said he will file that request on his client’s behalf on Friday.

If the Hyattsville court doesn’t schedule the requested hearing within 10 days, Mbock must be released and sent back to Maryland, the judge’s order said.

Representatives with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to emails about Mbock.

Mbock entered the U.S. on a green card in 2002, his lawyer said.

He lost his legal status about three years later when his mother and then-stepfather, an American citizen, divorced. In 2005, ICE ordered Mbock to leave the country, but he didn’t, Neufville said.

ICE arrested him in 2008. He spent about five months in detention before his release under a supervisory order that required him to surrender his passport and regularly check in with ICE.

He avoided deportation because the government decided it could not send him to Cameroon, Neufville said, adding that he does not know why the government made that decision.

A graduate of Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret, Mbock supports himself as an Uber driver but has won a slew of regional gaming tournaments, Sohna said.

Surrounded by gaming medals and plaques in her brother’s apartment, she said she’s talked to him nearly every day since his arrest, and can tell he’s struggling.

“He’s not trying to show that he’s going through it because that’s what he does,” she said. “He’s just going to endure his pain by himself before he tells you anything.”

Arrested

Neufville said he doesn’t know why ICE arrested Mbock last month. The habeas petition requires the government to demonstrate that they have plans to deport Mbock — or release him.

An ICE order of supervision, like the one Mbock is under, is issued when someone who is facing a final deportation order is unable to be deported, said M. Cecilia T. Mateo, an immigration attorney who is not involved in Mbock’s case.

Reasons can include lack of a passport or other paperwork required to enter a country, she said, or a humanitarian concern — that an immigrant can’t safely return to their country of origin.

“You can’t detain somebody if you don’t see a foreseeable departure,” Mateo said.

These orders can sometimes require ankle monitors. Mbock did not have one. They can also allow immigrants to work legally — as was the case with Mbock. These orders have no expiration dates, she added.

Mateo said she has heard of immigrants who were under ICE supervision for more than a dozen years.

But an arrest or other legal troubles can trigger deportation under a supervisory order, she added.

Mbock has an open civil case in Prince George’s District Court for unpaid rent, but it is unclear if that is related to the deportation order. He is accused of not paying nearly $1,300, according to attorney Todd Kelting, who represents the plaintiff in the case. Sohna said the late rent had been paid.

“My emotions have been all over the place,” Sohna said. “If you know him, you know he’s good. He just needs to come home.”

Support from gamers

More than 1,700 people, including gamers who know Mbock from tournaments where he plays the video games Street Fighter and Tekken, among others, have raised money for his defense fund.

One of the largest donations, $2,000, came from organizers of the Evolution Champion Series, a premier fighting game tournament. In a 2016 competition, Mbock beat Daigo, a gamer long considered the best Street Fighter player in the world.

Leon Ros-Sibulkin, a Massachusetts-based graphic artist, sells a $6 sticker depicting the Street Fighter character Chun-Li, a favorite of Mbock’s, combatting ICE agents alongside the word “resist” in Japanese script.

Mbock has also received support from the Cameroonian community in Maryland — at 25,000 people, they are the largest Cameroon-born population in the U.S., according to the most recent Census data.

Nikhil Delahaye, a friend of Mbock’s who enjoys the same kinds of fighting games, said he doesn’t understand why the federal government would try to deport his friend.

“We can say a lot of things in terms of the American Dream, in terms of we want good people here,” he said. “But when our actions aren’t consistent with that, what exactly is the objective?”

This story has been updated.