U of I Student Faces Family Trauma After ICE Raids Lead to Brother’s Deportation

Jules Alvarez-Leyva never expected a routine repost about ICE arrests would hit so close to home. But in October 2025, her older brother Oswaldo was detained in a Chicago Home Depot parking lot during one of the Department of Homeland Security’s aggressive immigration raids. The news shattered Jules, a political science junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and plunged her family into crisis.

For years, Jules’ parents had prepared her for the possibility of deportation, a grim reality for many immigrant families under the Trump administration’s crackdown. Yet nothing could have readied her for the moment she learned it was her own brother taken by ICE.

Oswaldo’s arrest was part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a DHS campaign targeting so-called “criminal illegal aliens” in Chicago, the agency’s justification for raids in sanctuary cities. But data from the Deportation Data Project shows that about one-third of those arrested nationwide during this period had no criminal record. Oswaldo’s record included probation and supervision for past offenses, but his detention and deportation to Mexico still devastated his family.

Back home in Chicago, Oswaldo had been the primary caretaker for his mother, who suffers from health issues, and a father to two young children desperate for their dad’s return. Jules returned home from school to find her mother broken and her family struggling to adapt.

“I felt really helpless,” Jules said. “I didn’t know what to do to make her feel better.”

Oswaldo spent over a month detained in Oklahoma before a court ordered his deportation in December 2025. Now in Morelos, Mexico, he helps run a small agricultural supply business but yearns to reunite with his children.

Jules’ experience is far from isolated. Other University of Illinois students have shared stories of loved ones detained, launching fundraisers for legal aid and grappling with the trauma of family separation. Emilia Mancero, president of the student group I-CAUSE, revealed that her elderly aunt chose to self-deport amid the raids.

These raids are part of a broader pattern of authoritarian overreach by the Trump administration, weaponizing immigration enforcement to sow fear and destabilize immigrant communities. The human cost is clear: families torn apart, mental health shattered, and students forced to choose between education and supporting their loved ones.

Jules Alvarez-Leyva’s story is a stark reminder that behind every ICE arrest is a family left to pick up the pieces — and a community demanding accountability from those who wield power without mercy.