The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting to get a man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of jail.An ACLU lawyer said the man, a former banker and lawyer named Bienfait, fled the Republic of Congo after his son was kidnapped and local militia threatened to kill his family, but confusion at the Canadian border landed him in a New Hampshire jail cell.Lawyers said Bienfait and his family are being persecuted because he is from the Hutu tribe."He and his family have endured terrible conditions, including persecution based on their ethnicity," ACLU immigration lawyer SangYeob Kim said.Kim said local militia are striving to drive all Hutus out of the Congo.He said Bienfait tried to get protection from local police and the Congolese government after he paid a high ransom to get his kidnapped son back in 2017, but his requests were ignored.Instead, the same militia came to his house again in 2018 and threatened to kill Bienfait, rape his wife and kill all his children.In desperation, Bienfait put his family in hiding and fled the Congo with a U.S. visa in hand, hoping for asylum in French-speaking Canada. "He did not know about the Safe Third Country Agreement, which would not allow a non-U.S. citizen to apply for asylum in Canada if they arrive in the United States first," Kim said.The ACLU said its client was so naive that he asked the U.S. Border Patrol for instructions at the Derby Line crossing in Vermont."He thought, as an innocent person with a U.S. visa, that he could go to the border. Then, he asked the official at the border to show him the direction how to go to Canada legally," Kim said.Bienfait was escorted back across the border, stripped of his U.S. visa and turned over to ICE.He's been at the Strafford County Detention Center, which is currently holding 72 immigrants, since Nov. 21."He only has one legal avenue to fight his case in the U.S. to be protected by the U.S. government," Kim said.The next hurdle will be raising the money for bond, which lawyers suspect will be high because Bienfait has no ties in the U.S.The New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ has an immigrant support group that is trying to raise money for Bienfait's bond, but the group says its funds are depleted.Donations can be made online at the UCC: https://bit.ly/2GibJnx. Indicate "other" and designate the "IRSG Bond Fund."