Pennsylvania woman presses for return of her husband from ICE detention: "It feels like I'm grieving"

A Chester County, Pennsylvania, woman is fighting to have her husband released from an ICE detention facility.

Ariel Whaley from Kennett Square said her 35-year-old husband, Nelson Contreras-Gelves, has spent almost two months at an ICE detention facility. Whaley said her husband is an asylum seeker from Venezuela who arrived in the U.S. in 2022.

"It feels like I'm grieving, as if he passed away," Whaley said, "because he's not here."

Whaley said Contreras-Gelves went to a routine immigration hearing in Philadelphia on June 25 — just one week after their wedding reception — and was told to return two days later because a kiosk was broken. When he returned on June 27, ICE detained him.

Whaley said she wasn't given a reason for his detention.

Whaley is now working with a team of attorneys to navigate the legal process.

"The biggest hurdle was the fact that the judges assigned to his habeas corpus petition, which is the petition for his freedom from detention, were very unfair in their treatment of his case," Whaley said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, "On June 27, ICE arrested Nelson Alberto Contreras-Gelves, an illegal alien from Venezuela, in Philadelphia. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and will receive due process."

"Contreras-Gelves was previously arrested by Border Patrol near Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 2, 2022, after he illegally entered the U.S. via the southern border. On March 15, 2022, Contreras-Gelves was released into the country by the Biden administration," the statement continues. "To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do NOT confer legal status in the United States."

Nelson's employer said his absence is being felt beyond the couple's home.

Contreras-Gelves is a distribution associate at Mighty Writers, a nonprofit in Toughkenamon, New Garden Township, that provides after-school literacy programs and operates a food pantry. The organization's executive director, Corinne Green, said Contreras-Gelves is an important part of the operation.

"I think that Nelson is irreplaceable," Green said. "I think he's one of those individuals that we can ask to do almost anything as it relates to support in our food program."

Ann Cohen, a Mighty Writers volunteer, has known Contreras-Gelves since 2023.

"He has become part of our family," Cohen said. "Even though we are from Philadelphia, he has become a frequent guest at our dinner table, at our holiday celebrations."

Whaley is now turning to the community for support.

A "Bring Nelson Home" event is scheduled for Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Kennett Square Library. Organizers are asking people to write to their representatives urging Contreras-Gelves' release.

A crowdfunding campaign has also raised more than $38,000 to help cover legal expenses and household costs while Contreras-Gelves is unable to work.

"I don't know what I would be doing without that financial support because Nelson was my primary source of income," Whaley said.

Whaley said she won't stop fighting for her husband until he comes home.