A young Virginia couple is caught in a nightmare that could tear them apart — and it’s all unfolding in just a matter of days. Jadyn Yost wants the world to know her husband, Cristian Romo-Bermejo, is more than the guy you see in a mugshot. To her, he’s a driven, intelligent, and loving partner, not the criminal some headlines might make him out to be.
Jadyn and Cristian first met in high school while working at the same restaurant. Sparks flew fast. “He’s just the most driven, intelligent person that I’ve ever met,” she said. They fell in love, and earlier this year, they tied the knot. But before their wedding, Jadyn learned Cristian was hiding something major. He wasn’t born in the U.S. He was brought here from Jalisco, Mexico, when he was just two years old — undocumented.
“He has everything here. Everything. His family, his friends; he has nothing in Mexico,” Jadyn explained. Cristian had hoped to find a path to legal status, but the fear of being denied re-entry if he left the country to apply has always kept him grounded in Virginia.
Things took a sudden turn for the worse on July 9. Cristian had been drinking with friends in Blacksburg when things got out of hand, reported WFIR. According to Jadyn, he drank too much and thought he had alcohol poisoning, so he did what he thought was responsible — he asked a friend to call 911.
He ended up at LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, but what happened next spiraled fast. According to a Blacksburg Police Department report, Cristian allegedly became threatening toward hospital staff. Police were called, and when they showed up, they say Cristian assaulted two officers. That landed him in jail at Montgomery County Jail in Christiansburg.
Then ICE got involved. Once officials confirmed his undocumented status, Cristian was transferred to the Abyon Farmville Detention Center.
Now he’s facing two different courts on the same day — July 22. One is a local court in Montgomery County for the felony charges related to the alleged assaults. The other is the federal immigration court in Annandale, where he could face deportation. The hearings are scheduled just 30 minutes apart.
Jadyn says he’ll likely appear virtually from the detention center, and she’s praying that both courts can look past what she calls the worst night of his life. She’s painfully aware that many people will reduce her husband’s story to just another immigration case or a guy who broke the law. But for her, it’s personal.
“I think people need to start to humanize other people’s situations,” Jadyn said. “I think anybody who watches this who had the chance to meet Cristian — I think their entire opinion would be turned upside down.”
Whether Cristian is allowed to stay in Virginia or is sent back to a country he barely remembers, Jadyn says she’s not walking away.
“I promised him I won’t stop fighting for him no matter what, and I really truly won’t,” she said.