Jun 2026·Chicago, IL·Venezuela
Jose Enrique Ojeda Duarte, a 31-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker and father of two who legally entered the U.S. in 2024, was arrested by ICE in Chicago on September 15, 2025, while heading to work during Operation Midway Blitz. He was told he was being taken to a court date for his pending asylum case but instead spent about seven months in detention centers, including facilities in Arizona and Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, where he reported inhumane conditions such as frozen food, lack of medical care during COVID, and minimal daylight. In April 2026, he was deported to Venezuela despite his pending legal case; DHS later attributed the removal to a 'data quality issue.' His attorneys and his partner, Leydimar Castillo, pushed for his return, and he was allowed back into the U.S. in June 2026 after a federal judge's intervention, reuniting with his wife and children in Chicago. He has since struggled with anxiety, insomnia, and trauma, telling the Chicago Sun-Times, 'Sometimes, I get a terrible feeling, like a fear of going out.'