![\"Delila](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ctc-l-children-left-behind07_246292994.jpg\")
Delila has been living with her sister Kassandra Ramirez since her father, her sole parent, was taken in an immigration raid on Oct. 21, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nThe bell rang at Logan Elementary School on Chicago\u2019s Northwest Side and 12-year-old Delila waited outside for her father to pick her up as usual.<\/p>\n
She searched the crowd, but she couldn\u2019t find him anywhere. Instead, \u201cI found the landlord\u2019s husband,\u201d the seventh grader said.<\/p>\n
The landlord\u2019s husband, along with Delila\u2019s grandfather, broke the news that immigration agents had arrested her dad. Pablo Blancas-Gomez \u2014 Delila\u2019s sole parent \u2014 had been arrested by federal immigration authorities during a raid earlier that day on Chicago\u2019s North Side.<\/p>\n
The girl grew quiet for a second. Then she burst into tears.<\/p>\n
Usually she had warned her father about immigration agents before he went to work on construction sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat one day he was taken, that day we didn\u2019t say anything,\u201d Delila said from her new home with her half-sister, Kassandra Ramirez. She looked down toward the table. \u201cCan I get a second chance?\u201d she choked out.<\/p>\n
Delila has been living with her sister Kassandra Ramirez since her father, her sole parent, was taken in an immigration raid on Oct. 21, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Delila has not seen her father since his Oct. 21 arrest while working on a home improvement project in the West Ridge neighborhood. The 45-year-old remains in custody at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility more than 1,500 miles away in El Paso, Texas. His hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2.<\/p>\n
Their separation illustrates a tragic consequence of the Trump administration\u2019s recent immigration crackdown<\/a>: Children have been left behind after a parent is detained or deported, often without a formal plan for their care or process for reuniting with their mothers and fathers. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Delila\u2019s father has been her primary caretaker since her mom died in 2023. Now her half-sister, Ramirez, has assumed all the responsibilities of a parent overnight. The 32-year-old is still trying to figure out the logistics of caretaking, from balancing school drop-offs and pickups while working a full-time job, to the finances of providing for a child.<\/p>\n \u201cPablo was taking care of her, that\u2019s her dad,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I didn\u2019t plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Immigration experts say the federal government has no comprehensive system to track minors who are separated from their parents upon detention or deportation.<\/p>\n Some of these children have been taken in by relatives or trusted caretakers. Others could end up in foster care.<\/p>\n All undergo the upheaval and trauma of abrupt separation from their primary caregivers.<\/p>\n The result is a new nationwide \u201cfamily separation crisis,\u201d said Kelly Albinak Kribs of The Young Center for Immigrant Children\u2019s Rights.<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds, if not thousands, of families are being torn apart,\u201d which will have a long-lasting and rippling effect on children and families, said Kribs, who works with immigrant families involved in the state welfare system in Illinois and across the country.<\/p>\n She drew parallels to the mass family separations during President Donald Trump\u2019s first term spurred by theadministration\u2019s so-called \u201czero-tolerance\u201d immigration policy, when nearly 5,000 children were forcibly separated from their families by the United States government at the southern border between 2017 and 2021.<\/p>\n Roughly 1,360 of those children still have not been reunited with their parents, according to a December 2024 Human Rights Watch report<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Today, it\u2019s unclear exactly how many minors have been separated from a parent or guardian in the Chicago area and across the country amid the administration\u2019s roving immigration enforcement<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Most recently, U.S. Border Patrol was in North Carolina<\/a> after pulling back on its Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, with agents planning to mobilize in New Orleans<\/a> next, according to reports.\n<\/p>\n Amid its operations, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in an email that ICE \u201cdoes not separate families.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cParents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or if they would like ICE (to) place the children with a safe person the parent designates,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is consistent with (the) past administration\u2019s immigration enforcement.\u201d\n<\/p>\n She added that parents in this situation also have the option of self-deportation. <\/p>\n The agency did not say whether it tracked cases of family separations or how many children have been left stranded due to parental detention or deportation.\n<\/p>\n A July 2025 ICE policy states that when a parent is detained the agency \u201cshould, to the extent operationally feasible, facilitate the (detainee\u2019s) efforts to make arrangements\u201d for their minor children.<\/p>\n The directive also says agency\u2019s enforcement actions should not \u201cunnecessarily infringe upon the legal parental guardianship rights and obligations\u201d of parents and legal guardians who are primary caretakers of minors in the United States.\n<\/p>\n Yet Illinois officials have repeatedly argued that this isn\u2019t the case in practice.\n<\/p>\n During a September press conference<\/a>, Gov. JB Pritzker condemned the \u201caggressive tactics\u201d of federal immigration officials in the Chicago area, including \u201cleaving children stranded after their parents were arrested.\u201d\n<\/p>\n News reports tell the stories of many minors like Delila who have been kept from their parents due to immigration enforcement, chronicling the stress, fear, mental health strain and anguish such separations can inflict on families.\n<\/p>\n A CNN report<\/a> in September found more than 100 U.S. citizen children \u2014 ranging from babies to teens \u2014 were left parentless after immigration enforcement officials detained their mothers and fathers.<\/p>\n The case of a recently deported 56-year-old widower, single parent and sole caretaker for four U.S. citizen children was highlighted last month in a sweeping federal lawsuit<\/a> alleging inhumane and unsafe conditions at the ICE holding facility<\/a> in west suburban Broadview.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHis children, who are already grieving the loss of their mother from earlier this year, now must process the sudden loss of their father,\u201d the lawsuit said.\n<\/p>\n A Tribune story<\/a> in June recounted the anguish of a 6-year-old girl whose mother was detained by ICE outside an office in downtown Chicago during what was supposed to be a routine check-in. The child \u2014 who was left behind without a guardian or legal path for reunification \u2014 couldn\u2019t understand why her mom had suddenly vanished and wasn\u2019t in the audience during her kindergarten graduation. Now, more immigrant families locally and across the nation are scrambling to find information about temporary guardianship arrangements to transfer custody of their children to a designated person in the case of an emergency like detention or deportation.<\/p>\n Rebekah Rashidfarokhi of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services has been inundated with requests for training or information about short-term guardianship forms.<\/p>\n She used to receive two or three calls about these forms a year. Now she gets two or three calls a day.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are getting exponentially larger numbers of calls and requests, more than I can really accommodate,\u201d said Rashidfarokhi, director of guardianship and immigration programs for children.<\/p>\n Delila said she has difficulty sleeping. First she lost her mom. Now she fears she might lose her father as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost my best friend,\u201d Delila said. \u201cHe\u2019s my dad, but he\u2019s my best friend too.\u201d<\/p>\n Delila is strong, but her dad is everything to her; their father-daughter bond has grown significantly since her mother died two years ago, Ramirez said. Her sister receives support from her teachers at school and has had counseling.<\/p>\n About two days after Blancas-Gomez was arrested, the dad and daughter spoke over the phone.<\/p>\n The call lasted around two minutes.<\/p>\n She asked him where he was; he indicated he was at the ICE facility in Broadview at the time.<\/p>\n Then his voice cracked, she recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cI love you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI love you too,\u201d Delila replied.<\/p>\n \u2018Second chance\u2019<\/p>\n Delila and her dad used to eat spaghetti covered in his special sauce made of mayo and ketchup.<\/p>\n They would play Pac-Man and go for rides together in his red work truck, Delila recalled.<\/p>\n It was the same vehicle that was left on the side of the road with the key still in the ignition when immigration enforcement took Blancas-Gomez while he was working at home on the day of the raid. At least 12 people were taken in the sweep.<\/p>\n The office of the 40th Ward was notified of immigration enforcement activity in the area. Ald. Andre Vasquez and his chief of staff, Cat Sharp, drove to the site and found the abandoned truck.<\/p>\n Video footage of the scene reviewed by the Tribune showed Blancas-Gomez wearing a black beanie next to his red truck, his hands behind his back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain unless you\u2019re going through it,\u201d recalled Ramirez, who shared a mother with Delila and has known Blancas-Gomez for many years. \u201cLike in the movies, everything just stops and it just sounds like a buzzing in your ears.\u201d<\/p>\n Department of Homeland Security officials referred to Blancas-Gomez as \u201ca violent criminal illegal alien from Mexico\u201d in the agency\u2019s statement to the Tribune.<\/p>\n \u201cHis rap sheet includes multiple arrests for domestic battery, theft, and criminal property damage,\u201d McLaughlin said, adding that Blancas-Gomez had been removed from the United States three times previously before reentering the country a fourth time, which is a felony.<\/p>\n Cook County court records show Blancas-Gomez was charged with domestic violence and criminal property damage in 2019, although the case was dropped shortly afterward. He also was found not guilty in a labor theft case that started in 2015.<\/p>\n The day Blancas-Gomez was taken, at least a dozen people were detained by immigration agents in different locations, Sharp said.<\/p>\n Multiple children have reached out about their parents being taken, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cThat piece especially has been the most heartbreaking,\u201d she said. \u201cIn some instances, we\u2019ve heard of neighbors just taking in kids temporarily.\u201d<\/p>\n In a perfect world, vulnerable families should preemptively identify a caretaker in case of possible detention or deportation, which can be done by filing a short-term guardianship form, said Rashidfarokhi of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.<\/p>\n In the absence of that form, children can be taken in by a relative or loved one who cares for them adequately, she said. When no one steps in or the caretaker does not take adequate care of them, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services might become involved.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly when necessary and all other options are explored, the State of Illinois can seek to have a legal guardian appointed to ensure that a youth without an adult caregiver is provided proper care and to consent to legal, medical and educational matters on the youth\u2019s behalf,\u201d states a DCFS brochure on support for families facing immigration challenges.<\/p>\n Onward Neighborhood House is one of many local organizations that have contacted Chicago Volunteer Legal Services for workshops on short-term guardianship forms this year.<\/p>\n Nearly 200 people have attended these workshops or met with case managers since then, said Jonathan Barrera, coordinator at the Illinois Welcoming Center, which is affiliated with Onward Neighborhood House.<\/p>\n Before January, Barrera had never even heard of short-term guardianships. Now he knows of dozens of families that have sought case managers to set one up.<\/p>\n Others have opted to self-deport, taking their children with them to the country they once fled, due to fears of being detained by federal authorities and potentially sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how bad the fear is,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Camerino](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-raid-kids19_230285204.jpg\")
Camerino Gomez with his partner’s daughter, Gabriela Pindea, 7, outside their home in Chicago on June 11, 2025, after her kindergarten graduation. Gabriela’s mom Wendy was detained by ICE in June. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)\n<\/p>\n![\"Pablo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-detainee-screengrab-01.jpg\")
Pablo Blancas-Gomez was picked up by federal immigration agents Oct. 21, 2025, on Chicago’s North Side. (social media)<\/p>\n
![\"Delila,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ctc-l-children-left-behind01_246293008.jpg\")
Delila, age 12, has been living with her sister since her father was taken in an immigration raid on Oct. 21, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n