ICE also has its eyes on sports stars

Mexican boxing was shaken on Thursday by the arrest of Julio César Chávez Jr. The son of the legendary fighter from Sinaloa is in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), accused of entering the country illegally and of being affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel, allegedly involved in trafficking weapons, ammunition and explosives.

The news has caused a major stir in Mexico due to its political and security implications, while also echoing the US government’s hardline campaign against irregular migration –public figures, including athletes, are not exempt.

“Under President Trump, no one is above the law – including world-famous athletes. Our message to any cartel affiliates in the United States is clear: we will find you, and you will face the consequences. The days of unchecked cartel violence are over,” Homeland Security stated in a social media post announcing the arrest of Chávez Jr., who was born in Culiacán 39 years ago and, according to DHS, had an active arrest warrant in Mexico for organized crime.

But Chávez Jr. is not the only athlete caught in ICE’s dragnet. Emerson Colindres, an 18-year-old soccer player of Honduran origin attending Gilbert A. Dater High School in Hamilton, Ohio, was arrested in late May during a routine immigration appointment. ICE transferred him to a detention center in Butler County, where the local community protested in a bid to secure his release. His coach, Kevin Kowal, told NBC:

“He’s a leader – one of the best players I’ve ever coached. He’s very talented. He dreamed of becoming a professional player, and now that’s been taken away.”

Emerson and his mother, Ada Baquedano Amador, left Honduras in 2014 and settled in Cincinnati, where they applied for asylum. In 2023, an immigration judge denied the claim, leaving both facing deportation. The Biden administration halted the process but required Ada to wear an ankle monitor and report to ICE weekly. Under the Trump administration, the deportation was enforced. In mid-June, Colindres was sent back to Honduras.

Another high-profile case is that of Marcelo Gomes da Silva, an 18-year-old Brazilian arrested on May 31 on his way to volleyball practice at Milford High School in Massachusetts. Gomes had initially entered the US on a tourist visa before applying for a student visa. It later emerged that ICE agents were actually targeting his father, Joao Paulo Gomes Pereira, who had been arrested multiple times for speeding and had his license revoked in 2023. After protests led by Marcelo’s classmates, ICE released the volleyball player on Thursday, June 5.

“I hadn’t showered in six days. I had to eat crackers for lunch and dinner, and use the bathroom in front of 40 men,” Gomes da Silva told reporters after his release. The student also said he had acted as an interpreter for many of his fellow detainees, who had no idea what was happening to them: “Their papers said they were being deported and they didn’t even know it. I felt sorry for everyone there.”

Deported over a Real Madrid tattoo

One of the most emblematic cases is that of Jerce Reyes Barrios, a 36-year-old Venezuelan who was transferred to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison. The reason: ICE agents claimed that a tattoo resembling the Real Madrid crest on his left arm was evidence of his affiliation with Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan criminal group designated as a terrorist organization by the US government.

Reyes Barrios had been a semi-professional footballer and had been tortured by the Nicolás Maduro regime, which imprisoned him for participating in a protest in March 2024. That ordeal led him to flee to the United States.

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