Virginia ICE agents nab gay Panamanian immigrant at routine check-in, man’s U.S. citizen husband says

A Washington, D.C., gay couple says they have been plunged into legal and emotional limbo after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained one husband during what had long been treated as a routine immigration check-in.

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Elias Perez-Zuazo, a Panamanian national, was taken into ICE custody in December after arriving at an agency office in Chantilly, Virginia, for a scheduled appointment he had attended without incident in prior years, according to a report by local NBC affiliate WRC. His U.S. citizen husband, Jonathan Blanco Gallegos, told WRC that the meeting, which was expected to last less than an hour, stretched for several hours before an agent returned Perez-Zuazo’s personal belongings and informed him that his husband had been detained.

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“They just take him away, and your life’s put on pause,” Blanco Gallegos told the station.

Perez-Zuazo entered the United States in November 2021 and was processed at the southern border before being released to pursue his immigration case. The couple married in February 2024 and had begun applying for a green card — a path Blanco Gallegos said they believed would allow his husband to remain in the country legally.

Instead, Perez-Zuazo was taken into ICE custody without warning.

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In a statement to WRC, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Perez-Zuazo had been ordered removed by an immigration judge and was “released into this country by the Biden administration,” adding that the agency “is not going to ignore the rule of law.” Perez-Zuazo’s attorney disputes that claim and has filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court challenging the legality of his detention.

A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued an order barring ICE from removing him from the judicial district while the court reviews whether his detention is lawful. The court has found that his case appears materially identical to a growing number of similar habeas challenges in the district and has ordered ICE to justify why he should remain detained.

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In a separate order issued Monday, the court granted the government additional time to respond, directing federal officials to either concede that Perez-Zuazo’s case mirrors earlier rulings limiting ICE’s authority — or formally argue why it does not. The government’s deadline to respond is 5 p.m. Friday.

The detention has raised particular alarm for Blanco Gallegos because same-sex marriages are not recognized in Panama. He told WRC that he fears his husband could face discrimination and danger if deported.

Civil rights advocates have warned that the crackdown is sweeping up people who are actively pursuing legal status and complying with government requirements, transforming routine check-ins into moments of irreversible consequence.

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The case echoes a growing national pattern affecting LGBTQ+ families navigating the immigration system. Grazi Chiosque told The Advocate in December her wife, Xiomara Suarez, was detained by ICE in Scranton, Pennsylvania, during what had been presented as a routine check-in, even though she had no criminal record and was actively pursuing lawful permanent residency based on her marriage to a U.S. citizen, a legal pathway federal law expressly permits.

Suarez’s detention exposed a widening bureaucratic fault line between ICE and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that has left legally married same-sex couples trapped in prolonged detention, contradictory court schedules, and legal limbo despite full compliance with the government’s own immigration processes.

“I got home, and my bed is empty,” Blanco Gallegos said. “He’s not cooking anymore for me. My heart is broken.”