ICE detains father in Washington state; pregnant wife pleads, ‘I just want him home’

ICE detained an expectant father in Washington state just months before his wife is scheduled to give birth.

On Friday morning, Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva was on his way to pick up his daughter in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, about 100 miles north of Seattle, when multiple unmarked ICE vehicles containing masked agents stopped him on a private road near his home, according to his wife, Rachel Leidig.

Silva, originally from Brazil, is a 35-year-old visual artist currently based in Washington state. Photos posted to his Instagram account show some of his colorful work that can be seen across the country.

Silva and Leidig met in 2023 at a Flaming Lips concert in San Francisco. The couple married in April and are expecting a baby boy in October. Silva — or Gui, as Leidig calls him — was meant to move to Sausalito, California, at the end of the month to be with Leidig.

“He’s just one of those people who it’s like, when you meet him he’s just so loving and warm and kind,” Leidig said. “Anyone that genuinely knows Gui knows that he’s an amazing person.”

Silva has no criminal record or outstanding warrants, Leidig said. Silva and Leidig were working with an immigration attorney and in the process of submitting an application to legalize his residency status in the U.S. when Silva was detained. After his detainment, Leidig submitted an I-130 form, or a “petition for alien relative.” He was also in the process of renewing his work permit, Leidig said.

According to Leidig, Silva told her that the ICE agents who detained him were rough with him and refused to show him a warrant. One agent confiscated his phone when he began recording the incident and others were making jokes during his arrest, she said.

“They were behind him laughing and making jokes, saying they were glad they didn’t make the news this time,” Leidig said.

Silva told Leidig that he was held in a holding cell for 38 hours in Ferndale where “the conditions were terrible” and he was given food that made him sick. He was also told to show his tattoos and asked if he had ever been affiliated with a gang, which he said he has never been.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A GoFundMe that was created by Leidig’s friend to help support Silva’s family and raise money for legal fees has amassed over $56,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

Silva is being held at a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, according to online records. Leidig says he has a court hearing at the end of the month, and she hopes he will be released then.

“I just want him home, I want him to come home to me,” Leidig said in tears. “We’ve been trying to do this legally and I want him to be here for the birth of our child, and I want him to be there for me and his son and for his daughter.”

Leidig says when Silva gets out, he wants to use his experience and law degree from Brazil to help others who are in his position.

“He wants to make this a bigger purpose of helping other people,” Leidig said.