Father wearing ‘Proud dad of a U.S. Marine’ shirt arrested by ICE agents while visiting pregnant daughter

A U.S. Marine has revealed that his parents were detained by ICE agents during a recent visit to Camp Pendleton in California, after which they were fitted with ankle monitors and ordered to report back to the agency, whereupon they were held again, and his father was deported.

Marine Steve Rios told NBC News’s San Diego affiliate that his parents, Esteban Rios and Luisa Rodriguez, had arrived at Pendleton in Oceanside on Sunday, September 28, to take his pregnant younger sister, Ashley, and her husband, also a Marine, out to breakfast, as they had done frequently for several months.

This time, they were stopped at the gate by ICE and taken to a downtown detention center.

Subsequently released wearing ankle tags, the couple returned as requested to the ICE facility on Thursday, October 2, only to be detained again, despite Esteban Rios' wearing a red shirt and white hat that both said “Proud dad of a U.S. Marine,” according to his son.

Steve Rios told NBC he later spoke by phone with his father, who said he and Luisa were currently being held downtown but expected to be moved to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County.

By Friday, October 10, Esteban had been deported, and Luisa’s location was unknown.

Rios said that neither of his parents had a criminal record, and both had work visas and green card applications pending, which he was proud to have sponsored. “It was scary,” he reflected. “It was scary because my whole life, I’ve kind of just, it’s been in the back of my head.”

An ICE spokesperson told NBC in a statement: “As part of its routine operations, ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws.

“All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality.”

The Independent has also reached out to ICE for further comment.

Rios said his parents had arrived from Mexico 30 years ago and had worked tirelessly cleaning houses and cars ever since.

“It was just making them proud, right? I’ve seen all the struggles they’ve gone through,” he said. “The least I could do, right, and serve this country and try to, you know, put some time in.”

“It's just hard because you just want to hear, like, your parent’s voice, that everything will be OK,” Ashley Rios said of her parents’ plight, which comes as she expects her first child.

“I'd always want, like, my mom in that delivery room and everything, so it's just hard to not think about your parents there.”

Asked by NBC what he believes will happen next, Steve Rios said: “They might get sent back. They might not. The only person that knows is up there.”