An undocumented man detained as he took his children to school in City Heights will be released from custody, reports NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer.
A judge on Friday ordered an undocumented man with no criminal history released on bond, nearly two weeks after federal immigration agents detained him in front of his two children as he took them to school in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood.
Genaro Carreto was taking two of his children, Bilver and Eugenia, to school on March 12 when he was pulled over and ICE agents took him into custody. He’s been held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center ever since.
“They ripped him out of the car after he turned it off and left his children in the car, crying, while they processed him and put him in the back of the unmarked police vehicle,” his attorney Jordan Schweller said. “It’s terrible. I’m sure his kids will be traumatized for life after seeing their father arrested and pulled out of the vehicle.”
Carreto came to the U.S. from Guatemala in 2022, fleeing violence, Schweller said, noting that his three children had pending asylum cases.
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During the bond hearing Tuesday, Schweller argued that Carreto had no criminal history, was the main provider for his family and is rooted in his community.
“The teacher of one of his children wrote a letter saying that he always tries to volunteer, that he never misses a parent-teacher conference, and that he's very involved with his chisldren's schooling,” Schweller said.
An attorney for the Department of Homeland Security raised concern that he might be a flight risk, but Judge Ana Partida ultimately ordered Carreto released on $3,000 bond as his deportation case winds its way through the backlogged immigration courts.
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Evelin Leyva is a relative of Carreto’s, in the U.S. legally. She rushed to the scene of his detention and recorded video of the aftermath, the agents with their faces covered and the two children crying. She said Tuesday she was in a parking lot when she heard he would be released.
“My phone rings and I was like, ‘That’s the call I’m waiting for,’ ” Leyva said, “And I hear, like, ‘The judge says yes.’ I was like, ‘Oh, God, thank you.’ I start crying and I want to honk my car, I was so happy and excited.”
Leyva said 4-year-old Eugenia has had trouble sleeping since her father’s arrest and the children have been seeing the school counselor. She and a few other family members who stepped in to care for the children in Carreto’s absence picked them up from school Tuesday and shared the news of his release through tears.
Bilver, 11, cried as well, saying in Spanish that he was emotional and wanted to tell his dad how much he loves him and has missed him in the two weeks he hasn’t seen him.
Carreto’s case is just one of thousands of detentions across the U.S. as President Donald Trump carries out his promise of deporting millions of people – an effort that takes significant time and resources.
Partida noted multiple cases other than Carreto’s Tuesday and that the court’s docket was “incredibly packed.”
“The system’s beyond full capacity right now,” Schweller said.
Carreto's attorney said that, once his client is released, he planned to apply for asylum and raised the question of how Carreto was on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar without a criminal history – the Trump administration has repeatedly said it was looking to first deport those with violent convictions.
“I think all of this could have been avoided if he wasn't put into custody in the first place,” Schweller said. “Remember: The taxpayers — we're all paying for this.”
