Even in the face of adversity and ICE raids, love finds a way.
The adage holds true for Maksim Reviaka and Akeela Lucius, 23, who were married on June 22 during a ceremony at Second Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side. Reviaka, a Russian immigrant facing deportation, tied the knot with Lucius, a US citizen and resident of Cypress Hills in Brooklyn, as he awaits a court hearing next month that will determine whether he can remain in the United States.
Reviaka and Lucius became married at an uncertain time for immigrants in New York and around the country. The Trump administration has stepped up mass deportation efforts nationwide, including having masked ICE agents confront and arrest immigrants at the Federal Plaza courthouse after their mandated hearings.
Reviaka could face a similar situation with a court hearing on July 1. This made marrying the love of his life, Lucius, on Sunday all the more important.
“If you’re talking about goals, man, all we’re trying to find is like stability, and we’re trying to find peace, we’re just trying to grow together as a people,” Reviaka said.
The couple was homeless when they first met while living in a shelter last year in East New York. It was a chance encounter, as Lucius recalled.
“We were complete strangers, and I was doing my hair, and he sits next to me in the beauty room, and he says, ‘Can you show me how to do that?'” she said. “We quickly became friends and realized we liked a lot of the same things.”
The two hit it off from there and realized they were a match made in New York. They became engaged and were set to marry at the New York County Courthouse in Lower Manhattan when members of the Sanctuary and Correlation Group, a faith-based organization, learned of his case and helped facilitate the wedding on Sunday.
Pastor Thia Reggio, leader of the Second Presbyterian Church, officiated the nuptials.
Even though they are now a married couple, Reviaka’s future in the United States remains in doubt. He needs to present documents to the courts attesting to his new life as a married man and hope the judge and immigration officials will realize his intentions are good.
“I have never tried to hide or escape from ICE, I’m doing everything legally,” he said. “All I’m asking is to be heard and have a fair court hearing without having to go through DHS/ICE tricks trying to dismiss my case and many other strategies that they are doing, some of which are straight-up dehumanizing.”
Reviaka hopes that judges and DHS officials can realize that most of the immigrants now facing deportation came here looking for new lives in America and are not here to harm anyone.
“Some people that come here, they genuinely were facing problems in their country. And, you know, some of those, some of those problems, you know, have a lot of scars and memories,” he said. “That’s the experience some of the people can go through and a lot of judges, a lot of like DHS, representatives, they’re not trying to understand that.”
As for Lucius, she says her love for her new husband is unconditional, and come what may, they will find a way to get through any turmoil.
“Whether or not he gets deported, we will stick this through the end,” she added. “One way or another, we will be together through love.”
