Surveillance cameras a man being detained outside of his North Miami home. He’s now in ICE detention, and his wife is pleading for his return.NBC6’s Sophia Hernandez reports
Throughout Vilma Perez Delgado’s home, there are pictures of her and her husband, Eduardo Nuñez Gonzalez, scattered about.
The last time she saw her husband of five years was on Thursday, March 20.
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WATCH HERE“Can I say goodbye to him? They said no, he’s already been detained," she recalled asking the men who knocked on her front door and detained him.
Video shows the moment that morning when Eduardo was taking out the trash. A man can be seen slowly walking, and then runs to approach him. Other men also appear in the video, detaining him just steps from his front door.
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The video was taken on a security camera outside Vilma’s North Miami home. And this all happened while Vilma was inside.
The men who detained her partner of more than 30 years couldn’t give her a reason as to why, so she called an attorney to help her. That attorney is still looking for answers as to why her husband was taken.
Both Eduardo and Vilma are Cuban nationals with Spanish citizenship. Vilma is an American citizen, but Eduardo is not.
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According to Vilma, he has spent more than seven years renewing work permits, trying to gain his own citizenship. But lost paperwork and delays have dragged out the process.
Eduardo has spent the last five days in Krome Detention Center. According to Vilma, he has been without food, water, or a bed.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, he was moved to the Broward Transitional Center.
“There are people who are sick. He told me,” Vilma said, crying.
"And he has not committed a single crime, not here or over there," she said. "The only thing he’s done is done what we’ve all done, he accelerated a little bit in his car and got a ticket. And he paid it. That’s all he has.”
NBC6 looked into Eduardo’s history and confirmed that traffic citations are all that he has.
An immigration and civil rights attorney told NBC6 that people of all backgrounds are being detained and family members need to be informed.
“I wish desperately that we had more avenues of redress for these folks, but what they need to do on the base level is to understand their rights," Katie Blankenship said. "Unless ICE comes with you with a judicial warrant, you do not have to open the door, you do not have to answer questions. And they should make safety precautions within their families.”
Vilma hopes she will get answers as to why he was taken, and for now, is just waiting for him to come back home.
“They had him against the garbage can, without reading his rights, without asking for paperwork,” she said in Spanish. “I’m his wife, they should give me an explanation.”
Vilma and her family members have put together a petition in support of her husband. It has so far gained more than 500 signatures.
