Wisconsin mom freed from ICE custody, speaks out

A Sheboygan Falls mother who was recently released from immigration custody spoke publicly for the first time, saying she was relieved to be reunited with her family and was working on healing mentally.

Days after returning to Wisconsin from the Kentucky jail where she was held, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called Elvira Benitez-Suarez back to its Milwaukee offices June 1 for a check-in appointment. ICE staff put an electronic monitoring app on her phone and allowed her to walk free.

“I feel very confident right now,” Benitez-Suarez said after her appointment. “I went through a lot during this past year. My family has gone through a lot. There’s a process of healing that I’m going through.”

Her reemergence from the ICE building, to cheers from supporters and immigrant advocates, was a 180-turn from her previous ICE check-in about two months ago, when agents unexpectedly detained her at the end of her appointment. That kicked off her second stint in ICE custody in a year.

She has no criminal record, and an immigration judge had previously ruled she could be granted a green card, until the federal government paused that decision with an appeal.

Benitez-Suarez was released May 26 from the Kentucky jail because another immigration judge ruled she could post bond. The judge decided she did not pose a flight risk or a public safety threat.

“I didn’t see the daylight for two months and 17 days,” Benitez-Suarez said. “I wanted my freedom back.”

She is a mother of four U.S. citizen children, including an 11-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, and she runs a cleaning and painting business. She said she is looking forward to attending her first Wednesday service at her Mequon church since being released.

Benitez-Suarez, 51, has lived in the U.S. since she fled domestic violence in Mexico at age 15. She said she was concerned with the living conditions in the Campbell County, Kentucky, jail where she and other female immigrants were held. She said she knew of two women there who had miscarriages while in custody.

“All these mothers, they do not have any criminal record. They’ve been working most of their lives here, enriching their cities, enriching their communities, being part of the workforce,” Benitez-Suarez said. “We do not deserve to be treated like this.”

Benitez-Suarez expects to attend another ICE check-in appointment in August. Meanwhile, the appeal from the federal government – over the judge’s decision to grant her a green card – is ongoing.

Her attorney, Marc Christopher, expects to submit briefs to the Board of Immigration Appeals, an administrative body, by the end of the week. It’s a review of whether the judge used his discretion properly to grant the green card. Then, the Board of Immigration Appeals could take 18 months to two years to make a decision in the case.

That long wait “really highlights the absurdity of having her in jail during that entire time. It’s absurd that we as taxpayers would be paying for (that),” Christopher said. “She needs to be with her family.”

Christopher said he’s hopeful the board will uphold the judge’s decision.

“I feel very, very strong with the case that we put in,” he said.