‘We’re not hurting anybody,’ says wife of immigrant taken from Georgia church

Wilson Velásquez’s arrest was one of at least 20 apprehensions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta on Sunday, according to estimates by Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language reporter well-connected with local immigrant communities.

In a statement, an agency spokesperson said the arrests were part of “enhanced targeted operations” that aimed to “enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”

Nationwide, 956 immigrants were arrested on Sunday, according to an ICE post on social media.

The first sign something was off for the Velásquez family came when Wilson’s ankle monitor — which federal officials placed on him at the border — began beeping. To avoid disrupting the service, Wilson shuffled out of the church where immigration agents were waiting for him.

After receiving a distressed text message from her husband, Kenia says she ran outside to try to help. By the time she came out, Wilson was in handcuffs in the backseat of a law enforcement vehicle.

Kenia says all color had drained from his face, and that he looked panicked. An ICE agent gave her the family’s car keys, which were on Wilson. Then, she watched as her husband was driven away. She says she still isn’t sure where he is being detained, or what will happen next.

“Forgive me if I cry, I just feel so upset. If I had Trump in front of me, I would hug him and I would tell him to take pity on Hispanic people,” she said.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

The Velásquez family crossed the border illegally as a unit in September 2022. They were released and allowed to pursue an asylum case inside the country. Kenia says they fled their home country of Honduras because they’d been threatened by gangs.

Once they reached Atlanta, where relatives had already moved, Kenia says the family kept up with their periodic check-in appointments at Atlanta’s ICE field office on Ted Turner Drive. Wilson made sure to charge his ankle monitor every night, to remain trackable to authorities and avoid immigration detention.

Last year, Wilson received a U.S. work permit, a benefit for which unauthorized migrants are eligible after six months of filing an asylum application. According to Kenia, Wilson worked at a tire shop and provided for the family while she stayed home with the children. His arrest is a threat to the family’s livelihood.

“I couldn’t fall asleep last night because I’m so worried,” she said. “Rent is due soon and we don’t have enough to make the payment. He was the one who worked.”

“My husband is a hardworking man. I don’t understand why they came looking for him,” she added. “We’re not hurting anybody. We’re good people. Humble.”

After a phone call with Wilson Monday afternoon, Kenia said her husband has no right to a hearing before a judge and will be transferred to Stewart Detention Center for deportation.

They want raids ‘to be known’

Mario Guevara’s phone began ringing at about 6 a.m. Sunday.

A well-known Spanish-language media personality, the Tucker-based Guevara has more than a million followers on social media networks. For more than a decade, he has tracked ICE through immigrant-heavy Atlanta suburbs, initially for the now-defunct newspaper El Mundo Hispanico and now for his own brand, MGNews.

Callers told Guevara on Sunday before sunrise that officers were in their neighborhoods, wearing vests that said HSI or DHS for the federal Department of Homeland Security. Later, the calls came from people who said a relative had been arrested.

Guevera said he had names of 20 people whom immigration officers had detained in metro Atlanta by about 10 p.m. Sunday.

Nine were Honduran, four Salvadoran, three Guatemalan, three Mexican and one Colombian, said Guevara. He thinks it is likely that others were arrested from countries that don’t speak Spanish, but their families wouldn’t have called him.

All of the people on Guevara’s list were asylum seekers with ankle monitors. Relatives told Guevara they had been going to all their immigration appointments, but administrative orders had been issued for their deportation. Thirteen had valid work permits, Guevara said. All had entered the United States between 2021 and 2023, he said.

Guevara also heard from two women whom ICE visited but did not arrest because they were alone with children. One, in Norcross, was alone with a baby about three or four months old, Guevara said. Both women also had ankle monitors, he said.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

The families seemed to be in shock, Guevara said. Immigration officers had banged loudly at their doors and yelled, “Police.” Many peeked from windows and waited in helpless fear before eventually opening the doors, Guevara said.

After the first calls came in Sunday, Guevara quickly got in his car. He drove to an apartment complex in Norcross where agents had been seen, but they weren’t there anymore. At another complex in Doraville, he saw ICE officers leading a detained man into their vehicle.

Guevara followed the agents’ car. His sense of alarm increased when it stopped at a Publix — but five minutes later, the agents came out with snacks, Guevara said.

Then Guevara followed them to Lilburn, where the agents lost him. He left the neighborhood but went back about 15 minutes later.

“I had a presentiment,” Guevara said in Spanish.

He saw a man being arrested whom he later learned was a Honduran immigrant. Guevara recorded the arrest live on Facebook. Later, as Guevara drove down Buford Highway looking for federal agents, Luis Ortiz, the pastor at the Velásquezes’ church, called to recount what had happened.

The scope of Sunday’s raids was not unprecedented, Guevara said. President Barack Obama’s administration still holds the record for deportations and some days under his leadership were similar, Guevara said. But then, immigration agents were detaining families together, including children, he said.

This time, Guevara said, more agencies seemed to be involved, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshal. Officers also seemed to behave differently when he stood in front of them, openly recording.

“They were calm,” he said. “They seemed comfortable. Before, they had a low profile.”

Compared to Obama-era raids, Guevara said, Sunday seemed to be about attracting attention.

“Today there’s more noise because of social networks,” he said. “(President) Trump is making more noise too, more of a racket. He wants this to be known.”

Family members that Guevara followed up with Monday morning had still not heard from their detained relatives.

Among the flurry of immigration reforms announced by the Trump administration last week was an expansion of a policy dubbed “expedited removal,” which subjects people who are in the country unlawfully to a streamlined and expedited removal process if fewer than two years have passed since they crossed the border.

“They could be on airplanes back to their home countries,” Guevara said.

Another change has allowed immigration agents to conduct arrests in schools, churches and hospitals — places previously deemed largely off-limits.

So many people told Guevara they planned to keep their children home Monday that, at midnight, he posted a video to Facebook urging immigrants to send their kids to school. They might be safer there than home, he said. And Guevara, a Salvadoran immigrant with legal status, thought of his own children.

“It’s better the kids don’t see you when you are arrested, for their emotional safety,” he said.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

For Kenia Velásquez, her husband’s arrest came as she was still reeling from another blow to her family from immigration enforcement.

Roughly two months ago, her brother was deported back to Honduras. He had tried to enter the country at the end of 2023 with his then-pregnant wife. Border authorities let her in, but he was detained. He remained in detention for a year before being sent back.

Although a potential return to Honduras fills her with dread, Kenia said she would follow Wilson should he be deported — a sign that voluntary departures could follow official removals.

“We would leave the U.S. the same way we came in, all five of us,” Kenia said. “I’m not going to stay in this country by myself, if they’re deporting people and everybody is afraid.”

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez