Chicago Public Schools custodian released from ICE: 'It was 42 very difficult days for our family'

Allison Kiehl, Chicago Tribune on Sep 4, 2026

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CHICAGO — After more than a month away from home in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention, a Chicago Public Schools custodian was reunited with his family on Aug. 28, family members confirmed.

Josue Pire Hidalgo was detained on the morning of July 17 during what his family believed would be a routine ICE appointment for their asylum case, an appointment they had waited more than three years to attend. They entered the United States in late 2022, applied for asylum, obtained work permits and secured jobs as CPS custodians.

Pire Hidalgo spent 42 days at the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana. He is now back in Chicago with his wife and son.

“It was 42 very difficult days for our family; stressful, desperate and very expensive, but always trusting in God and in his lawyer, Carla Espinoza,” his wife, Yulexis Padilla, said Friday.

Earlier this summer, Padilla told the Tribune earlier this summer that the family arrived downtown the morning of July 17 for what they believed would be a routine ICE appointment for their asylum case, an appointment they had waited more than three years to attend.

“We thought we were doing everything the right way,” Padilla said at the time. “We don’t have a deportation order. We don’t have any crimes. We pay taxes. We work for the state. We always tried to follow the law. I never imagined this would happen.”

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