TEXAS — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Juan Chavez Velasco on Feb. 18, 2026, while he was driving to a hospital neonatal intensive care unit in Texas to deliver breast milk to his infant daughter. His daughter had been born on Feb. 6, 2026, almost six weeks premature.

Chavez Velasco, 35, came to the United States from Colombia when he was eight years old. He has participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program since its inception in 2012 and renewed his status every two years. DACA was created to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and to allow them to work legally. Chavez Velasco graduated from college with two bachelor's degrees and works in a laboratory in Texas performing blood and other medical tests. His wife and children are U.S. citizens.

ICE agents parked on the side of a neighborhood road in Texas approached and questioned Chavez Velasco as he drove that day. He informed the agents that he had active DACA status and work authorization at the time he was stopped. He had applied for a DACA renewal in fall 2025, but the renewal had not been completed while he was in detention, causing his status to expire. Chavez Velasco has no criminal history.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said: "He is an illegal alien from Colombia and was issued a final order of removal in 2005. He received full due process. DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country."

As of the most recent reporting, Chavez Velasco had been held at a detention center in Texas for seven weeks. His wife said he was diagnosed with kidney stones during his detention and that he does not have access to healthy food or clean drinking water in the facility. The family purchased a home in 2025, before his detention, his wife said. She said that if Chavez Velasco is deported, the family would possibly move to a different country to remain together.

Since January 2025, ICE has detained more than 260 DACA recipients and deported more than 80.