CHARLOTTE — Alejandra Pérez spent a month and a half in ICE custody in Georgia, after she was arrested at an immigration court hearing in Steele Creek.
Alejandra is now back home and her family is beyond grateful.
But they wanted to share their story, in hopes that it can show other families that it is possible for ICE to release immigrants if you can prove your case.
The video above shows the moment Frank Benitez and his wife Alejandra had been waiting for. An emotional embrace outside an ICE detention facility in Georgia, as Alejandra was freed after a month and a half in ICE custody.
“I’m feeling like a dream,” Alejandra said.
Channel 9 first met Frank last month when he sat alone to talk to Hunter Sáenz. He told us about Alejandra’s arrest while she was attending an immigration court hearing in Charlotte in mid-August.
She took a picture in the lobby moments before she tearfully called her husband.
“The first thing I heard was my wife crying,” Benitez said. “She was like, ‘Frank, I’ve been arrested.’”
He was told it was a random pick-up. She has no criminal record and is seeking asylum from persecution back in Venezuela.
This time, she sat by her husband explaining how she feared ICE would deport her.
“At the start, yeah, I was very scared to go back to Venezuela,” said Alejandra.
She tearfully told us in Spanish how she didn’t sleep much in the pod she was in, with many screaming to get out, terrified of what would happen to them.
Benitez worked tirelessly with attorneys and finally, Alejandra was released from custody.
When asked if they believe her rights were violated, Benitez said, “300%. Her rights and the laws. The laws was-they got no respect for the law right now.”
But this family isn’t focused on that right now. Instead they are grateful they can simply gather around the couch, watching TV as a family again.
“Every day I’m thankful to God for giving my husband the strength to fight for me,” Alejandra said. “And even now, I don’t have words to thank him.”
She works with her husband and plans to get back to her job again soon. Her husband told Channel 9 he will not let her out of her sight again. That’s just how scared this family is.
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