PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Kléya Rice starts most mornings juggling bottles, toys, and toddlers — all while navigating the absence of her partner, Rony Dieujuste.
A full-time psychiatric nurse and mother of two children under two, Rice says the last two months have been consumed by fear, unanswered calls, and a legal fight to reunite her family.
"He's an amazing father, so committed," Rice said. "We've just grown as parents."
Her partner, Rony Dieujuste, was arrested on May 30 for a first-time DUI offense in Palm Beach County. A judge ordered his release. But before he could go home, Rice says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepped in.
"Immigration was there, ready and waiting," she explained. "They asked the judge for permission to hold him for 48 hours to question his status here in the U.S. And that's when the nightmare begins."
Dieujuste, a Haitian immigrant who was previously married to a U.S. citizen, has been shuffled through five different ICE detention facilities in four states—from Palm Beach County to Miami, then Texas, Arizona, and now California.
Rice says there was often no notice about his transfers, and the conditions he described to her were horrifying.
"When he gets to Krome, he gets that free phone call," she recalled. "He said, 'Babe, it's so bad here. It's disgusting. There's no room to even sit. We're squinched in a cell. It smells like feces and urine.'"
According to Rice, Dieujuste has been taunted for his Haitian accent, shackled during transfers, and denied proper medical care.
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"He told me his nose had been bleeding for three days," she said. "Then he started vomiting and having diarrhea."
By the time Dieujuste was transferred to California, Rice says conditions had only slightly improved.
"It's more like a dormitory," she said. "He's given a metal bed — no padding — one pair of underwear. It took one month for him to get a shower, six or seven weeks to get a toothbrush."
Now, she says he's battling a foot infection, a mouth infection, and a respiratory infection — all from conditions she believes are preventable.
"Six years I've never known him to be sick," she said.
At home, Rice is struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy. She's spent thousands in legal fees and says her daughter has started to act out when seeing pictures of her father.
"I did notice she would kind of get angry at the pictures when she'd hit him on my phone," Rice shared. "And nightly, I wake up with panic attacks… because if he did die, I wouldn't know."
As her son approaches his first birthday, Rice fears not just for her own family — but for others who might not have the means to speak up, no money, no attorney and no voice.
"Where did the humanity go? They're humans. They have families. They have children," said Rice.
She's now calling for greater oversight of detention conditions — and for a system that doesn't forget the people caught within it.
As for what's next, Rice says, "I wish I knew."
WPTV has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding the claims of poor living conditions, lack of medical care, and Dieujuste's current detention status. As of publication, we are still awaiting a response.
This article will be updated when new information becomes available.
