MT. PROSPECT, Ill. — A suburban family is gutted and hoping for the best after a father and husband was detained by ICE last week in Glen Ellyn.
Ricardo Perez, 38, of Mt. Prospect, was on his way to work on Sept. 2 when he stopped for something he often did early in the morning — coffee.
Perez, who works multiple jobs, told his family he was at the Panera Bread in Glen Ellyn and noticed a truck following him shortly after.
“I last saw him around 6:45 a.m. He was supposed to call me and never called,” his wife Adriana told WGN News. “He never called and I began calling like 10 times really worried. At around 8:40 he called and said ‘I was detained by ICE.'”
Perez told his family that ICE agents never asked for his name and the first thing told to him was “what is your status and show me your ID.”
“I have rights and want to speak to a lawyer,” Perez reportedly told ICE before being detained.
Adriana and their son, Fabian, had to pay $250 to have Perez’s vehicle towed back to their home and $180 for a new key, according to the family.
His detainment has sent a cocktail of fear, anxiety and sadness through his family over the last ten days as they search for clarity.
Perez was initially being held in the Chicago area and has been transported to Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky, according to family.
He has a court date next Wednesday back in Chicago, family said.
Fabian, 16, a junior at Rolling Meadows and a talented musician, sent a GoFundMe his mother made to a few friends.
What happened next blew his mind.
“The community at my school is really close,” Fabian said. “One of my friends, we joke she’s friends with half of the school, starting sending it everywhere and people were reposting it on social media. That was really crazy about how many people did something — I didn’t expect anything really.”
As of publication the GoFundMe has raised over $13,000.
A teacher at Rolling Meadows High School heard about the situation and connected the family to an immigration attorney.
The family told WGN News they’ve been able to communicate with Perez through an app ICE uses for detainees.
“It costs money to eat and even for a toothbrush,” family said.
Family said they were required to create an account through the ICE app and you needed a social security number. Their son Hector, 18, who has autism and is taking this hard, was able to use his.
Adriana said she’s been able to speak with her husband multiple times, but others in the facility are asking Ricardo to tell his wife for her to contact their families on Facebook.
“Many families do not have a social security number to use,” Fabian said. “Luckily we had someone, but this is happening across the country. Many families cannot communicate with loved ones. What happens to those people that can’t receive money?”
Ricardo came to the U.S. undocumented when he was 18 from Veracruz, Mexico. Family said he has worked hard over the years to provide and does not have a criminal record.
“He’s taught me so much. He’s been teaching me more lately like ‘this is how you should treat people — do the right thing,’ Fabian said. “Whenever we are free together, because he works a lot, we go to a forest preserve, the park, walks, the movies and he absolutely loves soccer.”
Adriana has been working hard with lawyer and Fabian comes home from school with papers all over the kitchen table as she tries to sort through everything.
Fabian, who plays bassoon and saxophone, already has scholarship offers but there’s a caveat to one of them. He got into a program at the Merit School of Music in Chicago as part of a scholarship requirement but now doesn’t know if he can go because his father was going to give him rides.
For now, family is holding out hope and is thankful at the outpouring of support from the community.
“I just want to see my dad back again,” Fabian said. “He’s taught me so much in my life and I’m still a kid. There’s so many things that I don’t know about and I can’t imagine not having him in my life.”
ICE did not provide information on Perez’s detention when asked by WGN News.
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