CHICAGO (WLS) — There are new details Thursday about some of the people detained at a South Loop immigration facility Wednesday.
It’s not clear where all of those detained Wednesday are being held.
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Some individuals might be held in the basement of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters located downtown. The Department of Homeland Security has yet to provide any information in response to inquiries.
Just a day after her detention, Marina Lopez finds herself at the Broadview detention center, with the looming threat of being deported back to Guatemala, her country of origin. Her attorney mentioned that she had warned Marina that this was a possibility before her Wednesday appointment.
“She held strong beliefs that she would not be detained. In fact, she carried her Bible with her. I distinctly remember it being quite thick. She took a moment to pray before entering,” shared attorney Cynthia Fernández.
A mother of three, including two U.S. citizen children, Lopez came into the country 10 years ago, seeking asylum. She was granted a work permit, but her case has been pending because of a prior arrest at the border six months earlier.
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“She spoke to her husband. She talked to her children. She said, ‘this might be a possibility.’ It could be a couple of days before they saw each other again. She gave him all the paperwork, passports, birth certificates; they put everything in order,” Fernández said.
Speaking from the family’s Ingleside home, her husband, who asked not to show his face, in Spanish, said, “Separating them is very hard. My little girl is only 5. She’s used to being with her mother. She didn’t sleep last night. She kept asking where she was. All I could say is that she’s detained. It breaks my heart.”
But not all of those detained Wednesday had a heads up. Without the benefit of an attorney to guide them, most showed up to their appointments unawares, after receiving texts messages to come in. Among them was Karla Gil Naranjo, a member at Grace & Peace Church.
“She’s an amazing person, working hard. She’ll work full-time, volunteer at the center, come to church,” Pastor John Zayas said.
Speaking from an Immigration Heritage Month luncheon at the Harold Washington Library Thursday, her pastor denounced what he called a lack of due process.
“Here’s an example of someone who is doing it the right way. Following the law, following the process, going to court, doing everything that is being asked of them, and then this happens,” Zayas said.
Her family still doesn’t know where she is.
“She’s followed the process. The day before she was at that site. She did her check-in with ICE, and so what they did was they texted her and said, ‘listen, you forgot to sign some papers.’ So, she went back that day. So, she was set up. It was a trap,” Zayas said.
Lopez’s attorney said she received a call from her client and an immigration officer, looking to see whether she should sign a form authorizing her U.S. citizen children to be deported along with her. She declined.
In a statement Wednesday, an ICE spokesperson said all “Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.”
Lopez’s attorney refuted that, saying she plans to file a stay, hoping to stop the mother of three from being deported.
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