A US Marine said his father was deported after ICE agents detained both of his parents at Camp Pendleton in California.
Steve Rios told NBC 7 that his parents, Esteban Rios and Luisa Rodriguez, were on their way to pick up his pregnant younger sister, Ashley, and her husband—also a Marine—at the large West‑Coast base on September 28. The trip had become routine for the family, who had been visiting the base every weekend for months while waiting for the baby’s arrival.
But on this visit ICE officers stopped the Rios family at Camp Pendleton’s gate and held them for questioning. The parents were released a few hours later with ankle monitors. They were picked up by Steve, who said they were told to report back to an ICE office that week.
When Rios drove them to the check‑in appointment a few days later, they waited for hours before ICE agents detained them again. “I kept looking at my parents. I didn’t know if this would be the last time I’d see them,” Steve said.
Steve shared that his father wore a red T‑shirt and a white hat that read “Proud dad of a US Marine.” “He said, ‘Yeah, this is my lucky shirt, so we’ll be fine,’” Steve recalled. The father was later taken away and deported, while it remains unclear whether his mother was deported or remains in the United States.
The parents had come to the US from Mexico 30 years ago. Rios, who joined the Marines right out of high school to make his parents proud, is now in the reserves after four years on active duty. The couple had been awaiting green cards and work visas that Steve had sponsored when ICE officers detained them.
“They were hardworking, law‑abiding members of their community. No criminal record. They washed cars and cleaned houses to get by,” Rios said. “It was just about making them proud. I’ve seen all the struggles they’ve gone through. The least I could do was serve this country and try to give back.”
The experience scared Steve. “I’ve worried about this happening my whole life,” he said. The situation has also weighed heavily on Ashley, who is now expecting her first child. She said when she first learned of her parents’ detention, she cried. “I wanted my mom in the delivery room. It’s hard not to think about them,” Ashley told NBC 7.
The siblings remain uncertain what will happen next, but they say faith keeps them grounded. “They might get sent back. They might not,” Steve said. “The only person that knows is up there.”
Ice spokespersons said the family was detained “as part of its routine operations. ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated U.S. immigration laws.” The spokesperson added, “All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention, and if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality.”
The incident at Camp Pendleton highlights the ongoing tension between the immigration system and families who have lived in the U.S. for decades, waiting for the legal status that will keep them from being caught off‑guard by agents. It also brings attention to the personal stories behind the headlines—families, careers, and dreams all caught in the complex machinery of federal immigration enforcement.
Source: New York Post
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