Crime & Law
Family Fighting to Have Father With Seizure Disorder Released From ICE Custody
A Chicago woman is fighting to have her chronically ill husband released from federal custody after he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents late last month.
Albeiro Ropero Remolina’s wife said she is still shaken after her encounter with federal agents on Dec. 29. She requested that her name not be used for fear of retribution. WTTW News granted that request.
“They had guns and had one pointed right at me,” the woman recalled in an interview conducted in Spanish. “I remember my husband telling them, ‘We aren’t resisting,’ but they kept banging on the car window. They treated us like we were some delinquents, and I was just going to work. We weren’t doing anything bad.”
She said it happened in an instant. As her husband was getting ready to drive her to work that December morning, their car was surrounded by ICE vehicles. She said agents pulled the couple from the car and took them into custody, later transferring them to the Broadview ICE detention center.
“They asked me to sign this document so I could go get my kids,” the woman recalled. “I refused because I didn’t trust them to bring my children back or take them somewhere else. I told them I wouldn’t sign anything.”
The family’s attorney, Angelika Charczuk, said agents were trying to pressure the mother of three to sign a form aimed at deporting the entire family.
“She was presented a document in English, basically the officer had called it ‘voluntary departure,’ so voluntary deportation,” Charczuk said.
While Ropero Remolina’s wife was released the same day, he remains in custody. His wife said he suffers from a severe seizure disorder requiring medication twice per day; missing even one dose could be fatal.
Attorneys quickly stepped in to file a humanitarian request to ensure he receives his medication and ultimately have him released.
“For a young family with minor children who is genuinely doing their best, and they got their work permits, and they are working, and they are making it work with not having stable access to child care, … for them to then have to suffer through something so traumatic and horrific, that in and of itself is heartbreaking to me,” Charczuk said.
Ropero Remolina is being detained in a facility in Indiana.
“My husband is a good man,” his wife said. “He has no vices and works no matter the hour. He is a fighter.”
The couple sought asylum in the U.S. nearly a year ago after leaving Venezuela. Ropero Remolina’s wife said the family traveled for nearly eight months before waiting at the border for an immigration appointment. They were eventually bused to Chicago, where they spent six months in a city shelter before moving into their own home.
“He tells me now when they (ICE) move him, they chain him from his wrists and his ankles with chains like he was a criminal,” his wife said. “Like he was an animal.”
Charczuk said Ropero Remolina has no criminal record. She filed a habeas corpus petition in Indiana, arguing he is being unlawfully held.
“We are talking about children who have no idea why their father is being treated the way he is being treated,” Charczuk said. “And here I am as an attorney well-versed in the law, as an attorney who spends hours every day trying to keep up with the most recent developments and what’s happening all over the country, … and how do I counsel my clients so that they could be in the best possible position, and I feel helpless.”
Ropero Remolina’s wife said knowing her husband is detained while facing serious health issues keeps her up at night.
“When we talk on the phone, I express my guilt because he was driving me to work that day,” his wife said. “He reassures me, saying, ‘Don’t blame yourself, it’s my responsibility to take care of you and our kids.’”
Charczuk said a habeas corpus petition can take anywhere from a few weeks to months to make it through the system.
“I want to emphasize that he is not the only one,” Charczuk said. “We are fortunate to be able to share his story, to be able to raise awareness about these horrific conditions, but there are so many other families in the same exact situation who are suffering silently.”
A Hyde Park organization launched an online fundraiser for Ropero Remolina’s family.
WTTW News reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeking clarification on Ropero Remolina’s arrest. The department has not yet responded.
