Wife Breaks Silence After ICE Detained Her DACA Recipient Husband on His Way to the Hospital

Stephanie Villarreal, a U.S. citizen from Texas, has spoken out about the alleged wrongful detention of her husband, Juan Chavez Velasco, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is a recipient of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). 

On Feb. 18, 2026, Chavez Velasco, 35, was driving to the hospital to deliver breast milk for their newborn daughter, who was born six weeks premature and was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), when ICE agents detained him despite having an active DACA status, MS NOW reported in March.  

Almost three months later, Chavez Velasco’s wife, Stephanie, 32, has spoken up about his arrest. She revealed that delays in processing his DACA renewal caused his status to lapse, even though he had submitted it in November last year. 

“I am a U.S. citizen, and my husband, Juan, is a DACA recipient who has lived in this country for over 25 years,” Stephanie said, adding that they are raising three children together in Weslaco, in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.  

“Our youngest was born just a few months ago and spent her early weeks in the NICU, and Juan has not been with us,” she continued, visibly emotional. “On February 18, Juan was driving to the hospital to deliver my breast milk to our baby. Juan is a medical laboratory scientist. He runs diagnostic tests and helps doctors get the information they need to treat patients,” she said. 

Stephanie said that her husband has been doing his work and building his career for years because of the “education and training that were made possible because of DACA.”

“That morning, on his way to the hospital, he came across a car stopped on the side of the road and pulled over,” Stephanie said. “That car was full of ICE agents.” She revealed that when ICE agents questioned him, he told them he had an active DACA status and had already filed and submitted his renewal in November.  

“They told him it didn’t matter, and they took him. I was on the phone with him, and I heard it all happen,” Stephanie said in her statement. 

“Juan has been in detention for almost three months now. Because of delays in processing his renewal, his status lapsed while he was sitting in the detention facility waiting,” she said, emphasizing, “he did everything he was asked to do. He applied on time. He had renewed successfully since 2012, but that didn’t matter.”

According to a March 18 report by MS NOW, Chavez Velasco arrived in the U.S. from Colombia with his parents in 1999. In 2016, his parents reportedly gained legal status through their U.S. citizen daughter, but he did not, as siblings have to wait for 15 to 20 years. 

Chavez Velasco enrolled in DACA in 2012. In November, he filed for renewal, but the government allegedly did not respond. 

His DACA status expired on March 10, weeks after ICE agents detained him, the outlet reported. In a phone interview with the news outlet from the Webb County Detention Center in Texas, Chavez Velasco said he felt “betrayed” by the Donald Trump administration.

Meanwhile, a DHS spokesperson told the Daily Beast in a March statement that Chavez Velasco “was issued a final order of removal in 2005.”

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations,” the spokesperson said. “DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”