Concepcion and Margarito Silva’s Fourth of July plan to celebrate America’s freedom came at the cost of their own. The Mexican immigrants were on their way to visit their son-in-law—“a sergeant in the 10th Mountain Division who has twice been deployed to Afghanistan”—at New York’s Fort Drum near the Canadian border when they were stopped by military police, according to NBC New York. But when the couple reportedly presented their New York City IDs—like they had done in the past, family members say—military police called Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, who then took the couple into custody:
Eduardo Silva tells News 4 New York that his parents, Concepcion and Margarito Silva, have lived in New York for two decades. They came to the country undocumented from Mexico but in 2007 they were approved for an official Department of Labor work permit.
According to Think Progress, “the couple’s daughter-in-law told NY1 that the Silvas’ children specifically asked Fort Drum officials whether their undocumented parents could visit, and they were told that they could if they showed ID.” The arrest is eerily similar to the arrest of Pablo Villavicencio, who was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after taking a food order to a military base in Brooklyn, New York. He also presented a New York City ID, with his family also saying that he had made deliveries to the base before without any issue. But while a judge has put a temporary halt to Villavicencio’s deportation, the father of two, like the Silvas, remains in ICE custody.
Now members of the Silva family members say they’re worried about Concepcion and Margarito’s health while in detention. ICE facilities don’t exactly have the best record when it comes to caring for detainees, and both husband and wife recently underwent surgery and are in need of their medications, which they say officials have failed to provide. “The Silvas say they have gotten calls from their mother, who said she was denied her medication. They say they have not heard from their father.” Just as horribly, the family says the enlisted son-in-law is trying to advocate for his detained family members but is facing roadblocks from the country he’s fighting for. “According to the family, the Department of Defense won’t let him intervene in the case.”