Politics
Owner of a Northwest Side Piñata Shop Taken by ICE in Front of Family Business: ‘We Are Shattered’
Juan Navarrete, right, is pictured with his family. (Submitted photo)
It’s been a week since the owner of a Northwest Side piñata store had her life turned upside down.
“I’m stuck between two worlds,” the woman said.
WTTW News is not naming the woman per her request over fears she could be targeted.
On Oct. 3, around 8:30 a.m., Juan Navarrete was parked in front of the store he ran with his wife, ready to bring in a load of coconuts he had just picked up. Surveillance video shows a masked federal agent walking with Navarrete toward his truck, talking to him.
The agent then takes him into custody.
Video: Surveillance video captured Juan Navarrete being taken into custody by federal immigration agents on Oct. 3, 2025.
“It seems ICE agents were walking past the store and then started to monitor him before one ICE agent started talking to him,” his wife said. “I had told my husband to keep the door closed and take the logos out from his construction truck because of everything going on.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the circumstances of the arrest.
Inside the Northwest Side store are handmade piñatas hanging from the ceiling, all types of Mexican items from canned food to sliced mangos and the coconuts that her husband would sell out front.
“He loves to be outside the store, cutting a fresh coco and selling them,” the woman said as tears ran down her face.
She recounted the moment her husband was taken away. She was inside the store with her daughter when she heard her husband talking to someone outside but didn’t think anything of it.
“I took a look at the cameras and didn’t see him,” she said. “I went outside and he was gone and someone standing there … he told me my husband was taken by ICE. I ran inside and told my daughter and we broke down.”
Navarrete’s wife said he has no criminal history and is confused as to why they would take him. She did confirm that he does not have permanent legal status to live in the country.
From what she knows, her husband was initially taken to the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, where he shared with her that the place was overcrowded, making it difficult even to walk.
He was later transported to Arizona, where he is currently being detained.
“They are telling him to sign the deportation papers, but I keep telling him not to do it and wait until my son gets here,” she said.
Now, she is scrambling to find a lawyer to help her husband. She has four children, one of whom serves in the U.S. Army, and they are hoping he can temporarily come to Chicago to assist the family during the legal battle to bring Navarette back.
“We are hoping he can come so he can help us with his petition,” she said.
Like many families, they say they came to the United States in search of a better life, something the couple found difficult to achieve in Mexico due to the poverty they faced.
Navarrete and his wife met in Mexico before deciding to search for better opportunities. Juan migrated to the U.S. in his early 20s.
The piñata shop where Juan Navarrete worked with his wife. (Joanna Hernandez / WTTW News)
They lived in Arizona for several years before moving to Chicago, where they made a home and had four children. For the past five years, they have owned a piñata store, where they create and sell handmade pinatas, along with other items. Juan Naverrete also runs a construction company, taking on jobs around the city to make ends meet.
“We come here for something better than what’s back home,” she said. “He paid taxes, we paid taxes, and we always pay.”
The family is currently in limbo as they navigate the immigration system while trying to keep their business afloat without their main provider. They have started a GoFundMe page to help raise funds that they plan to use for legal fees, travel expenses and any other necessary costs to fight for his release.
“We aren’t bad people, we just come to make a better life,” she said. “In our country, we didn’t even have anything to eat. If our parents were able to pay for our studies, we wouldn’t be here. We would have a good job in our country. We now have all our kids here, this is where we raised them.”
To his family, Naverrete is a loving father, a devoted husband and a hardworking member of the community. His wife said her husband isn’t a criminal but a man who worked for his family.
“Nobody wants to live the pain I’m living right now,” she said. “It’s so hard, ugly and it just breaks someone’s soul. One day from the next, we are shattered.”
