Woman fighting to get fiancé out of ICE detention center loses $10K to scammer posing as lawyer
A suburban fiancée is eager to get her loved one back. He is one of the more than 600 people a federal judge ordered be released by Friday, saying their arrests were unlawful and violated a court order.
The family now has a long road ahead, and is out thousands of dollars.
On that list of 607 detainees, only 16 of them are high risk to public safety with an alleged criminal history.
Giovani Flores Garcia is considered low risk. His fiancée said he has no criminal background.
Yadira Chavez and her fiancé, Giovani Flores Garcia, are the parents of a 2-year-old girl and a 7-month-old baby, two kids who depend on their dad immensely.
"He's a really hard-working man. He's the one who takes care of us," Chavez said.
She said Garcia was heading to work on Sept. 29, when he was arrested by federal agents in Willow Springs.
"He said, 'Chavez,' it's not the police, it's ICE, they are taking me.' I was like, 'Oh my God,'" she said, tearing up.
Chavez was told the agents did not have an arrest warrant. She did confirm that Garcia is undocumented, has no work permit, and moved to the U.S. from Mexico 5 years ago.
He was brought to the Broadview processing center and later sent to a facility in Michigan, where he has been since.
"Then we got an attorney, but everything was just fraud. So, they just stole all our money," Chavez said.
She said they fell for a scam after a person disguised themself as this Miami-based immigration lawyer, Lizette Sierra. Now, her family is out $10,000. She is seen in a video warning people of the fraudulent account.
After fighting weeks to get Garcia out of custody, Chavez said she saw his name on this list of over 600 detainees a judge ordered be released on bond.
"I was so happy I saw his name in there, but at the same time, what is the next step? We don't know what's the next step, what we have to do," she said.
She hopes the judge's order stands and her family can be together again.
"I feel sure, but at the same time, I feel scared because of what happened with the fraud," she said.
All parties are due back in court on Friday. That is also when the federal judge ruled that the detainees be released on bond.