Family and friends of a Chicago high school senior who remains in immigration custody just weeks before he is expected to graduate are urging his release ahead of the ceremony.
Earlier Tuesday, supporters learned 18-year-old Ricardo Hernandez Navarrete’s mother was granted bond and will be released. Ricardo, however, remains detained.
The Mather High School senior was arrested alongside his mother by ICE officials in March during a routine check-in tied to the family’s asylum case. Since then, the two have been transferred through several detention centers and are now separated in Kentucky.
Tuesday night, the teen, his attorney and a family friend, all urged the Department of Homeland Security to release him on bond.
Kristy Morrow, who’s known the family for three years, had a short and to the point message.
“It’s time for this boy to come home,” Morrow said.
Friends and family say Hernandez Navarrete had been preparing for graduation, prom and his future. He had also committed to play soccer at Truman College.
“He is going to school, he is dreaming about college, he was looking forward to graduating, he was looking forward to prom,” Morrow said.
It has now been more than a month since Hernandez Navarrete last saw or spoke with his mother.
“It’s been incredibly hard, especially on my mom,” Hernandez Navarrete said while in custody. “We have never been separated like this for this long without seeing each other… having to say goodbye to each other in handcuffs.”
Hernandez Navarrete says he now does not know if he’ll even be able to attend his own graduation ceremony.
NBC Chicago reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about the case. A spokesperson for ICE responded, stating “a pending USCIS application does not confer any lawful status in the United States. If a person enters our country illegally, they are subject to detention or deportation. Each illegal alien receives due process.”
Hernandez Navarrete’s attorney says the legal fight continues.
“We are going to file petitions to request bail for both of them so that they can both be released and fight their case in Chicago,” attorney Kelli Fennell said.
Hernandez Navarrete is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning. Family members hope a judge will grant him bond and allow him to return home.
If that happens, loved ones say they’re ready to throw him a makeup prom and graduation celebration if he were to miss out on the school sanctioned celebrations.
