‘He Did Everything Right’: Wife Speaks Out After Texas Father Detained by ICE While Delivering Breast Milk to Newborn Daughter in NICU

A 35-year-old Texas father on the way to deliver breast milk to his newborn daughter, Elianna, in the neonatal intensive care unit was detained by immigration agents.

Juan Chavez Velasco’s wife, Stephanie Villarreal, 32, said that she is a U.S. citizen and that her husband has been living in the country for the past 25 years.

“Juan and I are raising three children, and our youngest was born in the NICU a few months ago, and he has not been with us,” she said. “On February 18, Juan was driving to the hospital to deliver my breast milk to our baby. He is a medical laboratory scientist. He runs diagnostic tests and helps doctors get the information they need to treat patients.”

That morning, Villarreal said her husband came across a car and was pulled over, only to realize it was full of ICE agents. “They questioned him, and he told them his status was active and that his renewal had already been filed. He had submitted it back in November, but he was told it didn’t matter, and they took him. I was on the phone with him, and I heard it all happen,” she recounted.

Chavez Velasco has been in detention for almost three months now.

“Because of delays in processing his renewal, his status lapsed while he was sitting in the detention facility. He did everything he was asked to do. He applied on time and renewed successfully since 2012, but that didn’t matter,” Villarreal said.

Colombia-born Chavez Velasco, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, was transported to a detention center in Laredo. His DACA status expired on March 10 while he was already in custody.

Over the years, the program has allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrived as children to obtain work permits and protection from deportation, according to MS Now.

But delays in renewals, which some attorneys have claimed are intentional, have left some people in the program with expired status.

When questioned about Chavez Velasco’s case, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said he is an “illegal alien” who was “issued a final order of removal in 2005.”

The spokesperson did not comment on questions about the father's separation from his young children.

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportation,” the spokesperson said. “DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime,” MS Now reported.

Meanwhile, his wife has repeatedly pointed out that he has no criminal history.

Data provided by DHS to congressional Democrats shows that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 of last year, 270 DACA recipients were arrested and 174 were deported.

Chavez Velasco said that he feels “betrayed by the Trump administration.”

“I feel very sad and heartbroken because I would have thought that the Trump administration would be more compassionate toward people like me who contribute to the country and have basically lived here all our lives," he said.

“I love this country. We want to be Americans, because we’re Americans at heart.”