Sen Dick Durbin spoke on the teen from Chicago who remains in ICE custody

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]I'd like to share one story with you.

[00:00:09]Two months ago, a high school student named Ricardo Hernandez Navarrete and his mother were arrested in Chicago by ICE while a route at a routine check-in for families with pending asylum cases.

[00:00:26]You remember what President Trump told us about ICE?

[00:00:30]What he promised us with ICE?

[00:00:32]They were going after the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, the criminally insane, the child predators, and those who would kill you and should never cross our border.

[00:00:44]The worst of the worst, in the words of Donald Trump.

[00:00:49]But let me tell you about this mother and son.

[00:00:54]They've had no criminal record whatsoever. None.

[00:00:59]Ricardo is a student at Mather High School in West Ridge, Illinois, who also plays soccer at the iPro Skills Academy.

[00:01:07]He committed to play for Truman College in the fall after his graduation.

[00:01:12]He describes it as the answer to his prayer.

[00:01:15]The good news is that yesterday a federal judge ruled that Ricardo's mother must be released from ICE custody.

[00:01:24]Unfortunately, Ricardo, who is only 18 years old, remains in detention.

[00:01:30]Does Ricardo sound like one of the worst of the worst that the president promised would be his target?

[00:01:38]The murderers, the rapists, the terrorists?

[00:01:41]Not to me.

[00:01:43]After being detained, the two were taken to Kentucky from Chicago, put in jail for detention, separated by the Trump administration.

[00:01:53]They have not seen each other for two months.

[00:01:57]Ricardo said being in detention, quote, "plays tricks on your mind and the bathrooms are filthy with practically no privacy."

[00:02:05]He continued saying, quote, "I miss my mom.

[00:02:08]I miss playing soccer."

[00:02:11]Ricardo and his mother followed the rules.

[00:02:14]His mother came to the United States in 2022 when Ricardo was 15.

[00:02:20]She filed for asylum and that petition remains pending, according to court documents.

[00:02:27]Both have been model neighbors ever since they arrived.

[00:02:32]I'll also note cases like Ricardo's are one of the many reasons why Senate Democrats continue to fight to rein in lawless rogue ICE agents including by making sure federal agents follow the same standards of law and compliance with the Constitution as state police departments already do.

[00:02:53]That's not too much to ask.

[00:02:55]Unfortunately, many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are continuing to muscle through a partisan spending bill which would give to the ICE agents a blank check.

[00:03:06]The memory of what happened with the ICE agents in Chicago and certainly what happened in Minneapolis is not gone.

[00:03:13]We still remember when wearing their masks, they were harassing people and killing innocent American citizens.

[00:03:20]It happened twice in quick succession.

[00:03:25]Giving ICE a blank check is a mistake to the tune of tens of billions of dollars to continue this campaign of terror unchecked.

[00:03:34]I'm going to vote no on that bill and I urge ICE to release Ricardo and reunite him with his mother as soon as possible.