Wife hopes to have husband home for Thanksgiving as hundreds of detained immigrants await potential release
Hundreds of people detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents in the Chicago area could be released on bond by Friday under a federal judge's order being appealed by the Trump administration.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has a short time to rule on the federal government's request to pause that order while they appeal the judge's ruling to release hundreds of detainees by Friday, after he determined their arrests might have been improper.
Among those awaiting potential release on Friday is Omar Enrique Bautista Carvajal. His wife, Jasbleidys Hernandez, said they've been together for 20 years, but she's been without him for more than a month since his arrest.
The government admits he is a low public safety risk, and his wife and kids at home are hoping he will be back home for Thanksgiving.
Bautista Carvajal was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 4.
"He was caught going on his way to his English class," said his neighbor, Anthony Calderon Lopez.
When his name appeared on a list of more than 600 immigrants whose arrests might have violated a court order limiting arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause, Hernandez said she was overjoyed. She hoped her husband would be on his way home to their three kids.
She said she still hasn't told their youngest child why Bautista Carvajal has been gone, in Michigan, at the North Lake ICE facility, rather than with them.
Hernandez spoke briefly on the phone with her husband during an interview with CBS News Chicago, telling him a tearful goodbye at the end of their call.
Meantime, the Trump administration has challenged the judge's ruling to release those like Bautista Carvajal on a $1,500 bond as their immigration cases remain pending.
Hernandez said she hasn't been told how to post bond for her husband, and neither of them knows if he'll actually be released as the case is being appealed.
The 7th Circuit is considering briefs that have been filed by both sides of the case, but has yet to issue a ruling.