CPS Custodian Josue Pire-Hidalgo Freed After 42 Days in ICE Detention, Reunites With Family

Josue Pire-Hidalgo returned home this week to his wife and children, ending 42 days in ICE detention that began when federal agents detained him at what was supposed to be a routine immigration hearing.

Pire-Hidalgo works as a custodian at Farnsworth Elementary School on Chicago's Southwest Side. He is originally from Venezuela, holds temporary protected status and has a pending asylum application, according to Carla Espinoza, an immigration attorney with EZG Immigration Law who represents him and previously served as a Chicago immigration judge. Espinoza said he has no criminal record.

He spoke with the ABC7 I-Team through an attorney who translated his remarks.

"Every day felt like an eternity for me being in there," Pire-Hidalgo said. "Conditions are not the best, so it was very difficult for me to withstand detention under those conditions for that long."

His wife, Yulexis Padilla Julio, was detained alongside him in front of their children during the same encounter. She was later released with an ankle monitor while he remained in custody. Padilla Julio said the family had done everything asked of them under the immigration process, which made the arrest harder to process.

"Very conflicting feelings because here we are trying and we were doing things well, we were following the process, and so we were not expecting this to happen to us, to him," she said.

Since his release, Pire-Hidalgo has been adjusting to daily life with his family again.

"It was marvelous to be with my family again after being detained there for 42 days," he said. "Just seeing them and spending time with them was incredible."

Espinoza said she could not identify any legal basis for the detention given Pire-Hidalgo's status and pending case. Asked what justified holding him, she said: "None. And I think that's what we're seeing, just a policy of detention, regardless of the circumstances of that particular individual."

Espinoza said immigration authorities have changed how they carry out enforcement. She said agents are increasingly detaining people during scheduled check-ins and hearings, appointments where people are complying with legal requirements rather than avoiding them. That approach is running alongside more targeted street-level operations, she said, a different pattern than the large-scale sweeps Chicago saw last year.

Immigration arrests have increased nationally in recent months. The Department of Homeland Security reported a record 51,000 arrests last month. A review of federal data found that nearly half of the people arrested in Illinois since President Trump's second term began had no criminal charges against them, and that 72% of those detained by ICE in Illinois during that period have since been deported.

The Department of Homeland Security has said its enforcement priorities target what it calls the "worst of the worst." Pire-Hidalgo's attorney disputes that his case fits that description. She cited his employment history and lack of a criminal record, noting his asylum application is still pending.

For now, Pire-Hidalgo is back home with Padilla Julio and their children in Chicago. His asylum application remains pending, and no new immigration hearing date has been made public. His attorney said the family intends to continue pursuing his case through the immigration court system.