Members of the Springfield community — after participating in a Peace Walk organized by Indivisible Springfield — gathered around the Arriaga family on Saturday afternoon to show support for Arriaga Reyes, 45, who was detained by ICE on Friday and is being held in the Butler County Correctional Complex, according to the ICE locator.
“Juan has lived with honesty and transparency,” said Kristin Monroe, a volunteer with Springfield G92, a faith-based immigrant advocacy group.
A father of six — all American citizens — Juan Arriaga Reyes maintains a valid work permit and driver’s license, both of which he has to renew each year, costing him more than $1,200 annually, Monroe said. He also had a Social Security number, but he lacked permanent status.
“He owns a home and a business and pays taxes,” Monroe said. “He has done everything asked of him.”
Juan Arriaga Reyes was on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket, which meant he wasn’t being detained by the agency while awaiting immigration proceedings.
When he was told by attorneys that his ICE check-in carried the risk of being detained, he still decided to go anyway, just as he had done for the past 14 years, according to his family.
“He could have hidden. He could have run, but he chose integrity. He chose to follow the law, knowing that failing to appear would result in automatic deportation,” Monroe said.
While his wife and some of his children waited for him in the lobby at the ICE agency on Friday, Juan Arriaga Reyes was detained, handcuffed, and transported to the Butler County Correctional Complex, where he is expected to be sent back to Mexico soon.
“My husband did not have a pathway to citizenship,” said Lacy Arriaga, 37, at a press conference in Springfield on Saturday afternoon. “The immigration process is way harder and more complicated than anyone can truly comprehend.”
Born in Michoacán, Mexico, Arriaga Reyes came to the U.S. when he was 19 and settled in Springfield, where some of his family lived. He was a chef for many years at a Springfield restaurant, Los Mariachis. He recently pivoted his career about two years ago to help his wife, whom he married in 2018, run a small, custom-design apparel business, Redeemed Designs.
They both volunteer at their church, High Street Church of the Nazarene, where they serve as liaisons for Careportal, an organization that helps pay for food, housing and other necessities for families in crisis.
On Saturday, Lacy Arriaga said that an ICE agent had told her husband’s lawyer that there wasn’t a reason to keep him in the U.S. anymore due to his children being older, despite having a child who is still in the second grade.
“Please pray for a miracle — that they allow my husband to stay, to keep our family together and to continue contributing to this community,” said Lacy Arriaga, who was visibly emotional, along with other members of their family, during the press conference.
Lacy Arriaga and other speakers, including Carl Ruby, lead pastor at Central Christian Church, asked the group of nearly 100 people to advocate for easier pathways to citizenship.
“Our laws don’t provide that pathway right now,” Ruby said.
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