Wife of detained asylum seeker seeks answers from ICE

(KRON) — Two and a half months after her husband was detained by ICE, Shaylyn Ordaz is still seeking answers about his future in the United States. Anyelo Ordaz, a Colombian national seeking asylum, was detained by ICE after a scheduled court appearance in San Francisco on May 23.

Shaylyn Ordaz, his wife, accompanied him to the court, where he was taken into custody immediately after leaving the courtroom.

“We walked out of the courtroom — I was there with him — and, immediately, we didn’t even have 30 seconds to ourselves. Immediately, ICE took him and detained him,” Shaylyn Ordaz said.

Since his detention, Anyelo has been held at the Golden State Annex in McFarland, north of Bakersfield. Shaylyn Ordaz, a middle school music teacher, has been visiting him every Saturday, using funds raised by the community to take time off work.

Ordaz states that her husband has no criminal record in the United States or Colombia and has been living in America for two years. Despite this, ICE has not provided any clarity on why he is being detained or the outcome of his asylum case.

Shaylyn Ordaz believes ICE is treating her husband as an “arriving alien,” which could lead to expedited removal. She says Anyelo has requested voluntary departure to avoid further detention, citing it as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.