CINCINNATI — As deportation threats loom overhead, the family of a former Latin American politician, now living in Cincinnati, is pleading with U.S. officials to release him from ICE custody.
Carlos Roberto García, ex-mayor of Mérida, Venezuela, was detained by federal agents on Jan. 23. García's wife, Gaby Duarte, said the abrupt arrest happened during a routine immigration appointment.
Over the last several years, García has been to 28 such check-ins and never had a problem, she told us through a translator, Andrew Bove.
"I never thought anything would happen to Carlos," Duarte said. "He's (an) honest man and a man with integrity who works hard and has a family who he is supporting here."
We reached out to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson on Monday, asking for the reasoning behind Garcia's detainment. We are still waiting to hear back.
WATCH: He fled political persecution in Venezuela. Now, his family fears retribution if he's deported to his home country
Duarte said her husband, now an Amazon delivery driver, has no criminal record and claims that if he is deported to Venezuela, a country from which he fled in 2017 to avoid political persecution, he will be harmed. This, she said, is despite the U.S. capture and indictment of former Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro on drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges.
"So if Carlos returns to Venezuela, there are leaders in Venezuela that have said that people who have fled the country and come back are not guaranteed protection," Duarte said. "His order of capture is still out against him. It hasn't been taken away. He'll be captured and tortured and kept in the dungeon of the regime."
García's eventual arrival in the U.S. stems from 2017 anti-government protests in his home country. According to the Associated Press, civil unrest erupted in Venezuela in reaction to a quickly rescinded attempt by the government-supporting supreme court to strip the Venezuelan National Assembly of its powers. During the protests, the Maduro regime called on mayors like García to silence the unrest.
"Carlos wasn't going to silence the voice of his people, and he refused to do it," Bove said. "They ordered 15 months of arrest against him, and he was persecuted for that decision."
García and his family fled to neighboring Colombia, where they spent the next several years living in a border-city called Cúcuta. During that time, Duarte and García had two kids, who are now 5 and 7 years old.
"There, we were susceptible to the attacks of militant groups from Venezuela," Duarte said. "A political figure who was living in Cúcuta was captured by a militant Venezuelan group and taken back to be tortured."
That is when García's family chose to cross the U.S. border into Texas in 2022, Duarte said. They applied for political asylum and received the Biden-era designation of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) in 2024. She said García also has a permit to work in the U.S. through 2030.
"In 2011, Carlos had participated in a program with the state department," Bove said. "(He) had seen the life in the U.S., and he knew that it was a life of liberty, of just the great things we enjoy in this country."
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The Trump Administration revoked TPS for Venezuelans in 2025. Duarte said García's attorney has filed a petition asking that he be released from the Butler County Jail.
"I have been able to talk with him on the phone many times. He is very worried about being deported to Ecuador, a country he has no ties to," Duarte said. "The judge was asking him if he knows if he has family in Ecuador, has property there, and he doesn't."
As for García's two kids, unaware of their father's detainment, Duarte said they were told he is in another state applying for a passport.
"It still has a great emotional impact on them. Every night they're asking, 'Where's Dad?'" Duarte said. "In fact, last night, my little boy was praying to God and saying, 'Please don't have dad have to wait anymore. Please let him come home soon.'"
While no longer leading in Venezuela, Duarte said García has spent his time in the U.S. raising donations to send to those in need in his home country, while working 12 to 14 hours a day.
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