A D.C. couple has been forced apart for more than a month and now their future together is in limbo.
The husbands are a mixed-status couple — Jonathan Blanco Gallegos is a U.S. citizen, and his husband, Elias Perez-Zuazo, is undocumented.
Perez-Zuazo was detained Dec. 10 during what they thought was supposed to be a routine, annual check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The couple was already in the process of applying for Perez-Zuazo’s green card.
Blanco Gallegos and Perez-Zuazo were married in D.C. Feb. 27, 2024. At the time, the idea of life apart was unthinkable. Now, it’s their reality.
“Basically, it feels like something from inside you,” Blanco Gallegos said. “They take him away, and your life’s put on pause. And I need somebody to come back and press play, right, but it’s not gonna happen.”
Perez-Zuazo had a check-in with ICE at a facility in Chantilly, Virginia, which Blanco Gallegos says his husband had been doing annually. What normally would take 45 minutes, Blanco Gallegos says, took several hours. As he waited for Perez-Zuazo in the parking lot, he realized something was wrong.
“He has been detained with no reason, no excuse, no paperwork, no nothing,” he said. “They just give me his stuff outside of the parking lot. An ICE agent coming out from the building and says, ‘oh, are you Elias’ husband?’ Yes. ‘Okay, here is his stuff. He’s been in detention.’”
Perez-Zuazo is from Panama. Blanco Gallegos says his husband crossed into the U.S. without documentation in November 2021. Blanco Gallegos says his husband was processed by immigration authorities at the Texas/Mexico border and was released on his own recognizance, allowed to go live with a sponsor in Washington, D.C. while his immigration case played out in court.
Perez-Zuazo and Blanco Gallegos met in 2023, started dating and eventually got married. They’ve started the green card application process and have made some progress. Perez-Zuazo’s I-130 petition was approved, which is the first step needed for someone to obtain U.S. residency through a spouse or family member. But now, with Perez-Zuazo detained and with no clarity over if or when he’ll be released, Blanco Gallegos says he’s not sure that the future they pictured will come together.
“I got home; my bed is empty. He’s not in there. He’s not cooking anymore for me. So it’s so many things that your life changed,” he said. “Like from day to night. My heart is broken.”
Blanco Gallegos says their attorney has been seeking clarity from ICE, trying to figure out why his husband was detained and whether he’s facing any charges. Blanco Gallegos claims ICE has not been responsive.
News4 reached out to the agency asking why Perez-Zuazo was detained. ICE sent a statement which says, “On December 10, ICE arrested Elias Enoc Perez-Zuazo, an illegal alien from Panama. He illegally crossed the border in November 2021 and was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration. He received full due process and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in November 2021 and was RELEASED into this country by the Biden administration. This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”
Blanco Gallegos shared his husband’s “Order of Release On Recognizance” form with News4 – which was issued by ICE. The form states Perez-Zuazo was placed in removal proceedings after he was initially processed by immigration authorities in November 2021, but so far, News4 has been unable to find out if an immigration judge has issued a deportation order for Perez-Zuazo. A search for his case in the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s online database yields zero results. Perez-Zuazo’s attorney denies that an immigration judge has issued a deportation order, saying that’s not consistent with the documents he’s reviewed in the case and argues that if such an order was actually issued, Perez-Zuazo would have already been deported.
In the meantime, Perez-Zuazo’s attorney filed a “habeas corpus petition” in federal court, which challenges the detention, characterizing it as unlawful. Blanco Gallegos told News4 he fears what would happen if his husband is deported back to his home country.
“It’s going to be hard since Panama is not a gay-friendly country,” he said. “Because same-sex couples is not allowed over there. So our life is going to be at risk.”
Perez-Zuazo’s case underscores the Trump Administration’s massive push to detain immigrants in ICE facilities. According to the latest data compiled by the The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, the number of people detained by ICE jumped by nearly 40,000 from 2024 to 2025.
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