34-year-old green card holder arrested three months after seeking naturalization; family of four faces separation
KEY FACTS AT A GLANCE
- Detained: April 23, 2025 (four months ago)
- Location: Calhoun County Correctional Center, Battle Creek
- Family: Fiancée (U.S. citizen), two U.S. citizen children ages 5 (autism) and 2
- Status: No hearing date set as of August 2025
- Legal Issue: Disputed conviction from over 20 years ago
- Family Fundraiser: $1,438 raised of $25,000 needed
Two American children wait for their father to come home. Their mother fears she could be next.
Claudio Cortez-Herrera was dropping off his house payment at a Grand Rapids post office on April 23, 2025, when ten immigration agents surrounded him.
His 5-year-old son has autism. His daughter is 2. Neither child has seen their father in four months.
The arrest of Cortez-Herrera, a 34-year-old green card holder who has lived in the United States for over two decades, came three months after he took steps to become an American citizen. In January 2025, he scheduled an appointment with the Diocese of Grand Rapids to begin his naturalization application, according to a GoFundMe page created by his fiancée, Leticia Ortiz Lopez.
Ten Agents, One Man, No Warning
Lopez told local news outlet 13 On Your Side that she watched as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took Cortez-Herrera into custody near their Grand Rapids home.
“He was putting in the house payment across the street at the drop box post office when he got surrounded by 10 ICE agents, and he was taken,” Lopez said in the interview.
No warrant was shown. No warning was given.
The ICE Detroit Field Office confirmed the arrest on Facebook that same day. The agency’s post stated that Cortez-Herrera had been “Convicted in New Castle, Del. Planning first-degree arson & first-degree reckless endangering.”
But the family disputes this characterization.
A Decades-Old Conviction Becomes Today’s Crisis
Lopez maintains that her fiancé served seven months for a racketeering charge when he was a teenager, more than 20 years ago. She told 13 On Your Side that after serving his time, Cortez-Herrera moved to Michigan specifically to start fresh.
“He was young, he was stupid, you know, and he’s not that person anymore, you know, he’s not in that state, he’s not around those people,” Lopez said.
The distinction between ICE’s version and the family’s account matters enormously. Newsweek reported that journalists could not independently verify either version of the conviction. Court records from Delaware remain unavailable for public review.
Under immigration law, the exact nature of the conviction and the length of the sentence determine everything. Crimes with sentences under one year may not qualify as “aggravated felonies.” Those that do qualify trigger mandatory detention and virtually eliminate any chance of remaining in the United States.
Seven months versus one year. The difference could determine whether two American children grow up with or without their father.
Inside Calhoun County Jail
Four months after his arrest, Cortez-Herrera remains in immigration detention at the Calhoun County Correctional Center in Battle Creek, Michigan, according to ICE’s online detainee locator system verified by Newsweek. The facility is a county jail that contracts bed space to federal immigration authorities.
Government inspection reports paint a disturbing picture of conditions inside. According to ICE’s own Office of Detention Oversight:
From an August 2024 inspection:
- Guards failed to check on detainees in isolation units on schedule 1,694 times
- Medical staff missed required 15-minute suicide watch observations 46 times, with some gaps lasting 37 minutes
- Staff routinely forced detainees to strip during searches, violating federal standards
- The facility failed to fingerprint detainees before release, a repeat violation from earlier inspections
An April 2024 inspection documented similar failures, including a detainee with a fractured molar who never received adequate dental care before being released.
These aren’t allegations from advocacy groups. These are findings from ICE’s own oversight office.
“We’re on the Verge of Losing Our Home”
The detention has devastated the family financially. Cortez-Herrera was the primary income earner, working at Iron and Metal of Grand Rapids since 2014. He’d advanced from hi-lo driver to floor manager over his decade with the company, according to the family’s GoFundMe page.
His employer wrote a letter to ICE advocating for his release.
Without his income, Lopez cannot afford childcare to work herself. She suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that makes single parenting even more difficult.
“Over 20 years ago, as a teen, he made a mistake. He took responsibility and left that life behind,” Lopez wrote on the fundraising page. “He moved to Michigan, became a homeowner, and built a life of hard work and commitment.”
“Since he was taken, I’m afraid to even drive. I’m scared of being pulled over. Scared of racial profiling. ICE didn’t need a warrant for him—how do I know I won’t be next, even as a citizen?”
— Leticia Ortiz Lopez, U.S. citizen and mother of two
The family seeks $25,000 for legal fees and basic survival. As of August 2025, they’ve raised just $1,438. Support the family here.
The Citizenship Trap
The timing suggests a cruel irony. Cortez-Herrera’s attempt to become a U.S. citizen may have triggered his detention.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy, naturalization applications require FBI fingerprint checks and comprehensive background investigations. These checks flag any criminal history to federal authorities, regardless of how old the conviction or how young the person was when it occurred.
Three months elapsed between Cortez-Herrera’s citizenship application in January 2025 and his arrest in April. The background check process typically takes several weeks to months.
The Grand Rapids immigration detention case follows a pattern. Legal residents with decades-old convictions live peacefully for years, then face ICE raids after applying for citizenship or other immigration benefits.
Legal Limbo in Michigan Immigration Court
Immigration court proceedings will determine Cortez-Herrera’s fate. As of August 2025, no hearing date has been set, though the family expects scheduling soon, according to the Newsweek report.
The government must prove deportability by “clear and convincing evidence.” This requires certified criminal records from Delaware, documents that remain elusive.
If the conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony:
- Detention continues indefinitely
- No discretionary relief exists
- Deportation becomes virtually automatic
If it doesn’t qualify:
- Cortez-Herrera can apply for Cancellation of Removal
- A judge weighs rehabilitation against the old conviction
- The hardship to his U.S. citizen children becomes a legal factor
The 1996 immigration laws expanded deportable offenses and eliminated judicial discretion for many cases, according to the comprehensive analysis in the case documentation. Judges cannot simply consider current circumstances when certain criminal grounds exist.
Fear Spreads Through Grand Rapids Community
Lopez, a U.S. citizen, wrote on the GoFundMe page that she now fears everyday activities in their Grand Rapids neighborhood.
“Since he was taken, I’m afraid to even drive. I’m scared of being pulled over. Scared of racial profiling. ICE didn’t need a warrant for him—how do I know I won’t be next, even as a citizen?”
Her fear reflects a broader anxiety in mixed-status families across Michigan. Similar detention cases involving parents show how immigration enforcement actions ripple through entire communities, affecting citizens and non-citizens alike.
Two Children, Two Futures
The most vulnerable victims cannot speak for themselves. A 5-year-old boy with autism has lost the daily presence of his father. Routine matters for children with autism. Stability matters. The sudden absence of a parent can trigger regression and behavioral changes.
His 2-year-old sister faces a different loss. Four months have already passed. If the Michigan ICE detention continues much longer, she may not remember her father at all.
American citizen children of detained immigrants face an impossible choice: remain in the United States without a parent, or leave their own country for one where they have no citizenship, no connections, and possibly no language skills.
The Numbers Behind Immigration Detention
As of January 1, 2024, approximately 12.8 million lawful permanent residents lived in the United States, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics cited in the Newsweek report.
Each one remains vulnerable to deportation for criminal convictions, regardless of when they occurred or what they’ve built since.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Newsweek in June 2025: “Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right; and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”
The Battle Creek detention facility where Cortez-Herrera sits is one of dozens of county jails nationwide that house immigration detainees under federal contracts.
A Father, Not a Case Number
Behind ICE’s Facebook post and government statistics sits a man in a Michigan jail cell. Claudio Cortez-Herrera arrived in America as a teenager. He worked for a decade at the same Grand Rapids company. He bought a house. He started a family with an American citizen. His children are Americans.
He applied to become an American himself.
Now he may be forced to leave the only home his children have ever known, because of something that happened when he was young enough that his own children today cannot remember what happened last week.
Immigration enforcement operates on legal technicalities and statutory definitions. But families live with the consequences. In Grand Rapids, two American children go to bed each night wondering when daddy will come home.
The answer depends on court documents from Delaware that no one seems able to find, and on whether a teenage mistake counts as an “aggravated felony” under laws written before his children were born.
Four months have passed since ICE agents surrounded Cortez-Herrera at that post office. His 2-year-old daughter has learned new words he’s never heard. His son with autism faces each day without the father who understood his routines. Lopez checks the immigration court website daily, searching for a hearing date that hasn’t come. The family’s GoFundMe inches toward its goal, dollar by dollar, while bills pile up and the mortgage comes due.
In Battle Creek, behind concrete walls and federal regulations, a green card holder who tried to become a citizen waits to learn if America will let him stay.
