When the bell rang at Logan Elementary on Chicago’s Northwest Side, 12-year-old Delila did what she always does: she waited out front for her dad. This time he never showed. Instead, her landlord’s husband and her grandfather appeared and told her that immigration agents had taken her father that morning. Two months later she still has not seen him. Delila now lives with her half-sister, while school staff and counselors try to plug the space her father used to fill.
Her father, 45-year-old Pablo Blancas-Gomez, was arrested on Oct. 21 in a federal sweep on the city’s North Side that picked up at least a dozen people. The family says he was transferred to an ICE facility more than 1,500 miles away in El Paso, and his next hearing is set for Dec. 2, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune also reports that local legal-aid groups have seen a surge in requests for short-term guardianship forms and that nearly 200 people have attended workshops on those forms this year.
In a two-minute phone call a few days after his arrest, Delila’s father told her, “I love you.” That brief exchange, which the family describes as their only real contact, has only deepened the girl’s fear and confusion, the Tribune reports. Since the Oct. 21 arrests, Delila has been living with her half-sister, Kassandra Ramirez, who is trying to juggle work, school drop-offs and the sudden financial burden of another child.
Federal Policy Versus Practice
On paper, ICE’s July 2 directive on detained parents sounds straightforward. It says the agency “should, to the extent operationally feasible, facilitate the (detainee’s) efforts to make arrangements” for minor children and to avoid unnecessarily infringing on parental rights. The directive lays out procedures for identifying covered parents, helping arrange visits and coordinating with child-welfare officials. ICE also publishes a fact sheet and guidance for child-welfare stakeholders, but advocates say that guidance has not turned into reliable, trackable systems for families caught up in fast-moving enforcement actions.
Legal Aid And Guardianship Help
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services has long handled children and guardianship cases, and its staff listing confirms that Rebekah Azar Rashidfarokhi leads guardianship work for minors in the city. The Chicago Volunteer Legal Services staff page identifies Rashidfarokhi’s role, and local clinics and volunteer lawyers have stepped in when families did not have signed emergency guardianship paperwork ready to go.
Escalating Stakes
Advocates say the stakes are painfully high. A mid-November report by Human Rights Watch and Cristosal documented systematic torture and other abuses suffered by more than 250 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador earlier this year, underscoring the risks families fear if parents are removed. Human Rights Watch details beatings, sexual violence and incommunicado detention at El Salvador’s CECOT facility, the kind of allegations that amplify why some families say they would rather plan for guardianship than risk an abrupt deportation.
Local Fallout
The ICE processing site in suburban Broadview has become a local flashpoint. Neighbors, elected officials and reporters have raised complaints about conditions, barricades and protests near the facility at 1930 Beach Street. Local reporting on the Broadview protests and barricades is laid out by the Chicago Sun-Times, and a WBEZ explainer maps the federal facilities involved in the city enforcement campaign.
What Families Can Do
Community groups and legal clinics are urging parents to fill out short-term guardianship forms, update school emergency contacts and identify trusted adults who can accept temporary custody. When no safe caretaker is available, state child-welfare agencies may step in. Local organizations are running clinics and handing out forms, and lawyers say that having signed paperwork ready can prevent a scramble over school, medical and legal decisions if a parent is detained.
For Delila and thousands of other children, the question is painfully practical: who will pick them up from school, sign medical releases and keep routines intact while an immigration case drags on. Her half-sister says she is focused on keeping the household together one day at a time, and legal advocates warn that unless more families make contingency plans, more children could be hit with the same sudden upheaval.
