An immigrant father and autistic son want to be with their Glen Ellyn family. They face deportation

Steven, a 14-year-old Venezuelan boy with autism, is reliving a nightmare.

He and his father, Victor Romero Martinez, crossed the border into the United States from Mexico in May 2025, hoping to reunite with his mother in suburban Glen Ellyn.

They were detained by Border Patrol agents and spent 70 days at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a detention center that holds immigrant families, before being granted parole in August 2025.

When Steven, whose last name is being withheld to protect his privacy, and Romero Martinez, 52, were released, they began the slow process of rebuilding their lives. After months in detention, they settled into a routine — Steven was attending school — and started to recover from the trauma of confinement.

But in December, they were forced back into detention in Texas. Steven is now among many children detained at the facility, where he and others struggled to get adequate care despite a decades-old policy that generally bars children from being held for extended periods of time.

Now his mother, who did not want to be named for fear of compromising her immigration status, and their lawyer are fighting an uphill battle to keep them from being deported.

“He was just starting to thrive, and it’s like they cut off his wings,” Steven’s mother said.

• This report was published in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For more, visit chicago.suntimes.com.