Swap-O-Rama ICE raid separated Chicago newlyweds – she self-deported to Mexico, he’s still in ICE detention

On a recent afternoon in the rugged, arid mountains of the Sierra Mixteca region in southern Mexico, Alexa Ramírez is anxiously waiting for her husband, Alexander Villeda, to call.

The couple try to talk at least once a day since Ramírez, who’s 38, was deported back to Mexico in October.

Villeda, 30 years old and originally from El Salvador, is thousands of miles away in an immigration detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan. The couple was arrested in October during the immigration...