A Philadelphia man was arrested by ICE nearly 2 months ago. His wife worries he'll never return home.
A wife and mother of two young children said her husband was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents more than a month and a half ago. She has not seen him in person since, and she worries he may never be able to come back to his family in Philadelphia
"My neighbor came across the street and she said, 'Charlene, they just took Jes.' And, I'm like, 'Who? What?'" Charlene Maddox said.
Maddox still has her husband Jes Chimilio's work boots outside their Germantown home in the same spot he left them on the morning of Feb. 22. She said that's when Chimilio, who she married in 2022 and shares two children with, was taken into custody by ICE agents just feet from their front door.
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"My husband was screaming my name, 'Charlene, Charlene,' and I'm a visual person, so I really wouldn't have wanted to experience that at all, him calling my name because I don't know what I would have been able to do," Maddox said.
Maddox said Chimilio was 17 in 2002 when he moved from Belize to the United States with his parents, who are now citizens. She said in 2011, Chimilio was arrested on DUI and drug charges and served an 11-month prison sentence.
"He took a plea deal in the case. Unfortunately, he was telling me the immigration lawyer and the public defender didn't really explain to him that when he took that plea deal, that was going to affect his immigration status," Maddox said.
Maddox said for the past 14 years, Chimilio has never had any more run-ins with the law until a traffic stop Feb. 2 in Montgomery County when police discovered he was driving without a license on a work assignment. Pennsylvania is one of several states that prevent undocumented immigrants from getting a license.
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"He served his time in 2011, and now it's like creeping up on double, double, double jeopardy," Maddox said.
For now, Chimilio remains in prison in North Jersey as the couple tries to navigate the legal and immigration courts.
"It's just really hard," Maddox said. "I just want him back home."
Maddox is leaning on their faith and praying their family may one day be reunited.
"We have a picture in the bedroom that we kiss, and we say, 'We'll see you later, daddy,'" Maddox said. "That's all I got. I don't know what else to do."