Polish mother Beata Siemionkowicz detained by ICE in Kentucky since last August, despite Green Card
Two suburban women are facing Mother's Day without their mom, a Polish immigrant who has been in ICE custody since last August even though she has a valid visa and permanent resident card.
Beata Siemionkowicz's immigration case has puzzled her family and experts. Her daughters are trying to raise awareness about their mother's deportation case and be reunited with her.
Claudia and Gabriela Siemionkowicz said their mom is a Polish national with no violent criminal history. She was first detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August 2025 as she helped her tend Claudia's garden while she was at work.
"I answer my phone, and the first thing he says to me is, 'Your mom's gone, they took her,'" Claudia recalled.
Beata is a Polish national who came to the U.S. in 1995 with a visa. Now her daughters say she has a permanent resident card, commonly called a Green Card, which doesn't expire until later in 2026.
Beata was arrested before Operation Midway Blitz even started. While she has no violent criminal history, she does have two petty theft crimes on her record from the early 2000s. In documents given to CBS News Chicago by her family, it appears the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has pointed to those crimes as reasons to detain her.
Her daughters said she had already taken full accountability for those crimes while also working to pass her citizenship test. The Trump administration has repeatedly said their immigration crackdowns are taking "the worst of the worst" off the streets. That's not Beata, her daughters say.
"Yes, they're getting criminals off the street, but they're also taking innocent 56-year-old moms," Claudia said.
Beata was one of 3,796 people in 2025 who were initially detained in Chicago or Broadview. Of those, 1,652 have been deported. An additional 16 people voluntarily left, or self-deported, according to data from ICE.
"That thing they see, a case number, they see an alien number which, I hate that word. And they just see a number, and this is the Siemionkowicz family, like, we are a family that belongs together," said Claudia. "And regardless of what people are saying, like you should have your documents, that's the ting. We do. We're trying to bring our mother home."
For eight months, Beata has been detained at the Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky, a facility with others jailed for non-immigration-related offenses.
"They all got transferred, all the detainees got transferred to a new unit because of the mold growing, and there's also a lack of feminine products. There's bugs," her daughter said.
Her daughters want her back at home pending immigration proceedings. To them, she is much more than a statistic.
"Being able to call her when I can't figure something out, or when I need help with something, or call her for something, just being able to fall back on her," Claudia said. "That's my mom."
CBS News Chicago reached out to DHS for more clarity and their comment, and are waiting to hear back.
