Ricardo Hernández-Navarrete is home.
The Chicago Public Schools senior who was arrested by ICE agents at a routine check-in in March was released Tuesday after a bond hearing in immigration court, a spokeswoman for his attorneys told the Tribune.
He had been held in a Kentucky jail for months at a time when he expected to be preparing for his high school prom and playing soccer. His mother, Martha Liliana Navarette, was also arrested in March but was released last week. The two reunited in Indiana late Tuesday then headed to their Rogers Park home.
Originally from Colombia, Hernández-Navarrete and his mother came to the United States in 2022, when he was 15 years old. She filed for asylum and that petition remains pending, court records show.
Each of them was taken to Kentucky jails for detention, but the government separated them and held them in different facilities. For two months, the mother and son had almost zero face-to-face contact, Hernández-Navarrete previously told the Tribune in an interview from jail.
Hernández-Navarrete, a student at Mather High School in the West Ridge neighborhood, is a well-liked member of the community who also plays soccer with iProSkills Academy, where he is a valued contributor, his coach Costal Serban said. Mather’s soccer team Instagram account said he committed to play for the Truman College soccer team in the fall.
Serban picked up Hernández-Navarrete in Indiana Tuesday night and drove him home, fulfilling a personal promise to help the family. When Hernández-Navarrete and his mother were arrested, Serban was Hernández-Navarrete’s first phone call.
In the weeks since he was arrested, Serban has helped support his legal fight and kept in close contact. Once, while Hernández-Navarrete was in detention, the teenager asked his coach and teammates to fast for 24 hours, and they did, Serban said.
“This kid is stronger than we imagined,” Serban said. “I’m extremely happy.”
Hernández-Navarrete’s graduation is Thursday and Saturday is the last game of the season, Serban said.
“I think it’s a sign from God,” Serban said. “He deserves it. He’s a good kid and he deserves it.”
Increased immigration enforcement over the past year has added strain for Chicago Public Schools students, who now balance their studies with concern about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents roaming in their neighborhoods. Many parents of CPS students have been detained. But Hernández-Navarrete is unique as a high school student taken into custody.
CPS said it does not track how many of its students, if any, have been detained.
This story is developing.
