CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Two young children in Chula Vista are now in the care of a family friend after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained both of their parents after school drop-off this week.
The boys, ages 12 and 4, have not seen their parents since Tuesday morning when Reinaldo Chirino and Kris Estefany dropped them off at school. The parents never returned to pick up their children because ICE arrested them shortly after the school drop-off.
Itzel Jimenez, a family friend, received a voicemail about the detention and stepped in to care for the children to prevent them from entering the foster care system.
"There was a voicemail, and I could hear the ICE agent in the background saying that she had an opportunity to call and figure out who's going to pick up the kids," Jimenez said.
Using a temporary caregiver authorization affidavit, Jimenez took custody of the boys since they have no other family nearby.
"It was either they were going to go to CPS because no one was going to pick them up or they're going to come with somebody that they knew, so I decided to just take them," Jimenez said.
The couple, originally from Venezuela and Colombia, is now detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Chirino contacted ABC 10News reporter Laura Acevedo from inside the facility, describing his family as hardworking and with no criminal records in the United States or in their home countries.
The family came to the country legally in 2022 under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. Chirino said he had a valid work permit and worked with his wife cleaning offices.
However, the Trump administration recently revoked that legal protection for all Venezuelans, causing the family to fall out of legal status.
ICE did not respond to our questions about the couple's case.
Jimenez, who has two children of her own, is now raising money and trying to find an attorney to take on the case while caring for the boys.
On Thursday, she had to surrender the boys' family dog to a shelter because she could not find someone to help care for the pet. The dog is on hold at a local shelter, and she's hoping she can find someone to care for the dog while the boys' parents are detained.
"I just feel like for the kids, enough is enough for them, and I need to give them stability while I can," Jimenez said.
The family has a GoFundMe to help with legal services to fight the parents' case. If you'd like to help, click here.
The parents have a hearing with an immigration judge on February 9th.
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