Chicago Public Schools student detained by ICE during asylum check-in released from custody

A Chicago teen being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Kentucky is now on his way home, after a judge allowed him to go free on bond just in time to graduate from high school.

Ricardo Hernandez Navarrete and his mother, Liliana Navarrete, were both arrested by ICE in March during a scheduled check-in for their asylum case. 

Liliana was released last week, and now she's about to see her son for the first time in weeks.

Not only are they about to be reunited, but Ricardo is going to make his Mather High School graduation on Thursday, something his family thought at one point he would miss because of his arrest.

The 18-year-old is planning to play soccer at Truman College next year.

His graduation and college plans were put on hold after he and his mom were detained together during a routine asylum check-in in March.

Last week, a federal judge in Kentucky granted Liliana's release on a writ of habeas corpus, allowing her to go free on bond pending the outcome of her immigration proceedings.

Just last Wednesday, she was reunited with her other son, Steven, in Crown Point, Indiana. She said that reunion was bittersweet without Ricardo.

"I feel incomplete, because my son Ricardo is still not here, and there's uncertainty, but we have hope that with God's help he will be with us so we can continue to be a family," she said in Spanish.

The last time Liliana and Ricardo saw each other, they were being taken by ICE to a detention facility in Kentucky.

"We were chained and we were only able to make contact like this, a little through the window guard. It was very painful," she said.

Liliana said she tried to reassure Ricardo before he was moved to a separate location in Kentucky.

"We said to each other. 'Everything's okay? Son, are you ok?' And he said, 'Yes, mom, yes,'" she said.

Ricardo had a bond hearing on Tuesday, which led to his release. As of Tuesday afternoon, he was on his way back to Chicago to be reunited with his family.