The mother of a U.S. Marine, detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly three weeks after being stopped while trying to visit her pregnant daughter on Camp Pendleton, was released from custody late Wednesday night.
Steve Rios is a Marine, and his sister Ashley Rios is married to a Marine. On Sept. 28, Steve and his parents Esteban Rios and Luisa Rodriguez were headed to visit her on base when they were stopped at the gate, and ICE agents took them into custody.
They were released with ankle monitors later that day and told to check in with the agency downtown about a week later. At the check-in, they were taken into custody again: Esteban, who at the time was wearing a shirt that read “Proud Dad of a U.S. Marine,” was deported to Tijuana the following day. Rodriguez was taken to the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
The family said the couple has been in the U.S. for more than 30 years, and their attorney said they had pending visa applications, along with work authorization, which should have shielded them from deportation.
As they’ve done for weeks, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security again on Thursday did not respond to request for comment or answer any specific questions on the couple’s cases.
A judge ordered Rodriguez released on Tuesday. Steve said he stayed up nearly all night hoping for an update on when he could pick her up. Then on Wednesday, he and his aunt drove down from their home in Oceanside to wait.
The couple’s children said their parents were taken into custody by ICE while trying to visit their pregnant daughter — she is married to a Marine — at Camp Pendleton, reports NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer.
The San Ysidro Trolley Station near the border was chaotic: a fight broke out on the platform, and machinery was roaring as Steve and his aunt waited quietly, searching. Rodriguez did not have her cell phone, so they just kept their eyes peeled, looking for any sign of her arrival.
Just before 9 p.m., a white van pulled up, and Steve screamed out, “Mom!” as Rodriguez emerged, wearing the same clothes she was wearing the day ICE agents led her away.
They ran to one another and embraced through tears.
“Thank God,” Rodriguez said in Spanish as she hugged her son, “I’m going home.”
“I feel happy now because I’m back with my family, and I hope my husband comes home soon,” Rodriguez continued, switching to English. “I want to say thank you to all the officers who was nice with me and for all the girls in there, I pray soon go home.”
She said it’s been a nightmare for their family and she was unable to sleep or eat while detained, adding in Spanish, “I was very depressed, but now I will be better.”
Rodriguez said all she wanted was a shower and to hug her daughter.
A week after NBC 7 was the first to report that Esteban and Luisa Rios were detained at Camp Pendleton by ICE while visiting their pregnant daughter, who is married to a Marine, the case has taken some new, unexpected turns, reports NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer.
“It’s not over,” Steve said. “Obviously, my dad’s still gone. But at least we took a major win today bringing back my mom.”
Rodriguez was released at the same time as another woman from across the world, calling her over to meet her family: “Come here. She’s from India. She’s my friend.”
As Steve and Rodriguez hugged, kissed and cried, he asked her new friend if she knew where she was headed, only for Rodriguez to reply in Spanish, “She’s coming with us.”
So they all left together – grateful for the release that they had hoped and waited for.
“I pray every single day for this day,” Rodriguez said.
“To everyone who helped my children on this journey, thank you,” she said in Spanish, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I will always carry you in my heart and in my mind.”