PHOENIX — A mother of three was recently released from an Eloy detention facility after being detained by ICE during a January raid at a Zipps Sports Grill, while her husband remains in Department of Homeland Security custody.
Eighteen-year-old Rosa Barrera finally got to hug her mother, Monica, after more than two months in DHS custody. Monica and her husband, Jose, were detained during the ICE raids at Zipps Sports Grills at the end of January.
"That's mom... That's mom!" Barrera said in a video she recorded while running to her mother. She said she tried not to cry in the moment, but she was overcome with emotion when the two embraced.
Now released from an Eloy detention center, Monica recalled when she saw ICE come into the Zipps at 32nd Street and Shea Boulevard, where she was working in food preparation. She thought about her three kids and how she would not be coming home to them that night.
"'Oh, God, they're going to arrest us,'" Monica recalled.
The mother of three added that her husband, Jose, told her not to resist.
While detained, Monica described trying to sleep with a broken air conditioner, eating breakfast served around 3 or 4 a.m., and constantly worrying about her kids. The youngest is just 4 years old.
A week before the Zipps raid, the family hired immigration attorney Sheree Wright to help Monica and Jose change their immigration status. Their daughter's recent autism diagnosis qualified them to apply for immigration medical relief.
Wright said Jose and Monica entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago and were charged as such after being detained, but neither has any criminal history.
"Both of their cases are fundamentally the same. The difference is in the judge. Immigration is discretionary, the form of relief is discretionary," Wright said.
Wright said ICE stepped in to keep Jose from being released after he got a bond hearing.
ABC15 reached out to DHS multiple times for a response on the case, but did not immediately hear back. In previous reporting, DHS said they raided Zipps for allegations of hiring undocumented workers, identity theft, and document fraud. Jose and Monica were not charged with that.
Barrera said she wants to spend as much time as possible with her family, even if that means her mother wearing an ankle monitor in public, which she said can be embarrassing.
Every day, they pray that Jose finds a path home.
"If only he were here with us," Monica said.
After all those meals in detention, Monica said her first meal out was wings. But they were not from Zipps.
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