{"id":5032,"date":"2025-06-22T10:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T10:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5032\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T10:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T10:59:10","slug":"ice-took-her-mother-her-daughter-6-is-left-without-a-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5032\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE took her mother; her daughter, 6, is left without a guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Gabriela crossed the stage at her kindergarten graduation in Chicago, she scanned the audience, desperately searching for a familiar face. But her mother was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

Still, wearing a pink dress and ballerina flats, Gabriela, 6, smiled and twirled around holding a bouquet on her way home. An older neighbor who sometimes cares for her walked by her side.<\/p>\n

Just a week earlier, on June 4, her mother, Wendy Sarai Pineda, 39, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside an office in downtown Chicago during what was supposed to be a routine check-in, while Gabriela was at school. The little girl doesn\u2019t understand why her mother vanished and had hoped her mother would be at her graduation, said Camerino Gomez, Pineda\u2019s fiance.<\/p>\n

\"CamerinoCamerino Gomez shares an image of his partner, Wendy, and her daughter, Gabriela, while outside his home in Chicago on June 11, 2025. \u201cShe is afraid that the state or the government will take (Gaby) away from her,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cShe\u2019s afraid she\u2019ll never see her ever again.\u201d (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her that she went to get some paperwork ready so that they can be together in Honduras,\u201d Gomez, 55, said. \u201cAnd that I will take her to be with her soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gomez doesn\u2019t know if that\u2019s even possible. He has no legal guardianship over Gaby, as he calls her. The girl, who is a Honduran citizen, has an asylum case pending. And with Pineda being held at the Kenton County Detention Center in Kentucky before being deported to Honduras, there\u2019s no clear way to secure a power of attorney for Gomez to travel with the girl. ICE, he said, has not been responsive to him or the lawyer for the mother and daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is afraid that the state or the government will take (Gaby) away from her,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cShe\u2019s afraid she\u2019ll never see her ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

When parents are detained or deported by immigration authorities, their children \u2014 many of them U.S. citizens, others, like Gaby, in the U.S. without legal permission \u2014 are often left behind to navigate the fallout alone. Some are placed in the care of relatives, while others may end up in foster care. All face the emotional trauma of sudden separation, sometimes compounded by economic instability and legal uncertainty. Reunification is often blocked by bureaucratic hurdles, Chicago advocates say.<\/p>\n

Despite life-altering consequences, there is currently no federal protocol to ensure that children are reunited with their deported parents. Their well-being is left to chance, in a system that wasn\u2019t built to protect them.
\u201cAn infrastructure for children left behind when their parents are deported does not exist,\u201d said Erendira Rendon, vice president of immigrant justice at The Resurrection Project, an organization that offers legal help for immigrants. \u201cIt makes this heartbreaking situation even harder for families.\u201d<\/p>\n

June 4<\/p>\n

Advocates estimate about 20 people, including Pineda, were detained by immigration officers on June 4 following a confrontation<\/a> involving local officials and ICE agents in the South Loop.<\/p>\n

According to Gomez, Pineda had received a message to attend an appointment that morning at an office housing the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, an ICE-run alternative to detention<\/a> that ensures compliance with immigration processes.<\/p>\n

The mother, who came from Honduras with Gaby in May 2023 to seek asylum, was not aware that she had a prior deportation order from entering the United States without authorization years before. Still, the Biden administration allowed her into the country with her daughter because she did not pose a threat to the country and had no criminal record, her attorney Elisa Drew said.<\/p>\n

\"HandcuffedHandcuffed detainees are led into a van by federal agents on South Michigan Avenue as protesters demonstrate on June 4, 2025, outside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

For the last few years, Pineda had been checking in with ICE. That\u2019s what she intended to do June 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted to get to the office early so she could come home early,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cInstead, she wasn\u2019t allowed to leave.\u201d
Masked federal agents pulled Pineda and more than a dozen others from the ICE office and loaded them into unmarked white vans as relatives watched, many in tears. She is now being held in Kentucky, awaiting deportation.<\/p>\n

Many of the detained that day were parents who had been complying with check-ins for years, said Antonio Gutierrez, co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations.<\/p>\n

The parents, he said, are desperate to know how their children are doing. Most have been sleeping on the floor at the detention center because of overcrowding, according to Gladis Yolanda Chavez, another immigrant mother who was detained<\/a> June 4.<\/p>\n

There is no clear data on the number of children who have been left behind. Their ages range from newborns to high schoolers.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo boys cry after their mother was taken away in a van by federal agents on June 4, 2025, outside a Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the South Loop. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

In past administrations, immigrants would be given some time to purchase plane tickets back to their home countries and then escorted to the airport, Drew said. And though that is what Pineda would have wanted to do, she couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were thinking maybe they could leave as a family unit. I thought they would be safer,\u201d Drew said.<\/p>\n

At home, Gaby keeps asking where her mother went.
\u201cShe told me that when she sees her mom\u2019s clothes, she remembers her and gets more sad,\u201d Gomez said.<\/p>\n

Legal process<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, immigration attorneys have told the Tribune that ICE has ramped up the visibility of enforcement across Chicago and other sanctuary cities, targeting people at court hearings<\/a> and during check-ins.
\u201cTo have a parent taken away suddenly like that \u2026 can have lifelong implications for their development and for their socialization \u2014 night terrors, screaming, crying uncontrollably,\u201d said Caitlin Patler, an associate professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley.
Gomez, who met Gaby after getting engaged to her mother in November, said he would like to take Gaby back to Honduras, but ICE has the child\u2019s passport and the power of attorney. After more than two weeks, ICE has been unresponsive, Drew said.<\/p>\n

\"CamerinoCamerino Gomez walks with Gabriela Pineda, 6, to their home following Pineda’s kindergarten graduation ceremony in Chicago on June 11, 2025. Gomez’s partner, Wendy, the mother of Gabriela, was taken by ICE on June 4, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Though Gomez has tried to reach out to the Honduran Consulate in Chicago and other organizations, he has gotten little to no response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do I do if Gaby gets sick, if she needs something that requires her parents to be here?\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which intervenes only in cases of abuse or neglect, said in a statement that it works with families regardless of immigration status. If a child is found to be neglected and a parent is detained or deported, the agency aims to place them with relatives and reunify them with their parents, sometimes with the help of foreign consulates.<\/p>\n

The Mexican Consulate visits each detainee at the immigration processing center in Broadview before they are transferred to a detention center to provide a power of attorney or custody letter if they have a child in the country.<\/p>\n

Other countries, however, do not have that type of structure. Due to the political turmoil, Venezuela, for example, does not have a consulate in the United States.
Rendon, from the Resurrection Project, urges families to create an emergency family plan that includes discussing with a loved one who can care for the children if the caregiver is detained, and having the necessary documents ready for family reunification.<\/p>\n

The situation can be even more complicated when parents in the country without legal permission have U.S.-born children, said Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University who studies deportation enforcement. Some parents may choose to leave the child in the U.S., even if they are sent to another country, for safety, stability or the promise of a better future. Every situation is different, Stevens added.<\/p>\n

\"CamerinoCamerino Gomez places a graduation cap on Gabriela Pineda’s head as they get ready for a photo after her kindergarten graduation on June 11, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody chooses their country of birth. Nobody chooses their parents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gaby didn\u2019t choose to be in the U.S. with someone she had only known for a year, said Gomez. Pineda is afraid that in the midst of it all, Gaby will be lost in the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s no way she can stay here without her mother,\u201d Drew said. \u201cShe needs to be reunited with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community support<\/p>\n

Different community groups have collaborated with Chicago Public Schools to create \u201csanctuary teams\u201d to help alleviate the anxiety and stress experienced by kids by providing essential resources for families, including medical assistance, clothing, food and mental health support. Some educators expressed concern to the Tribune about that support being cut off during the summer months.<\/p>\n

Other groups use school buildings as spaces to meet even through the summer, said Vanessa Trejo, a school-based clinician with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.<\/p>\n

During the school year, Trejo worked with a boy whose mom was also detained and deported by ICE. She said it directly affected his ability to focus in class. Trejo met with the student twice a day. He would cry and they would play games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to sit with him. Just having a physical being around is huge,\u201d Trejo said.
That student, who was born in the U.S., was in the process of obtaining his passport so he could be with his mother, she said.<\/p>\n

\"FollowingFollowing her kindergarten graduation, Gabriela Pineda, 6, hops on a neighbor’s swing outside her home in Chicago on June 11, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

As for Gaby, her future is uncertain, Gomez said.<\/p>\n

Her mother is still in detention, and there is no timeline for when or where she\u2019ll be deported. Let alone when she\u2019ll see Gaby again.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Gaby spends her days with an elderly neighbor, Maria Ofelia Ponce, 74, while Gomez is at work. Other times, Gomez\u2019s older daughter and his brother\u2019s family help take care of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt breaks my heart to see her alone. To not know what will happen to her,\u201d Ponce said.<\/p>\n

At Gaby\u2019s graduation, as mothers in dresses held their children in their graduation gowns, Gaby\u2019s family had a small gathering to celebrate her, hoping to help her feel loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Gabriela crossed the stage at her kindergarten graduation in Chicago, she scanned the audience, desperately searching for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[6502,960,69,6500,5410,5386,1818,6501,409,82,277,2065],"class_list":{"0":"post-5032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-biden","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-honduras","12":"tag-ice","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-immigrants","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-joe-biden","18":"tag-trump","19":"tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114726671139443658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}