After ICE Detention, Sheboygan Falls Mom Returns Home To Uncertain Future

Elvira Benitez-Suarez speaks during a press conference on Monday, June 1, 2026. Evan Casey/WPR

A Wisconsin mother is speaking out after she spent more than two months in ICE custody.

Elvira Benitez-Suarez of Sheboygan Falls was released from the Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky last Tuesday after being granted bond by an immigration judge. She was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at a routine immigration check-in in Milwaukee on March 10.

Her detention came after a judge ruled last year that she could obtain a green card. The federal government has appealed that decision.

Benitez-Suarez has two adult children, as well as a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old who are still living at home.

“It’s not easy to be in there,” Benitez-Suarez said on Monday. “Every day seems like a thousand years.”

She said it was a relief to see her family again.

“I was very, very happy and excited that I saw my family,” she said. “Just the freedom, just to feel my freedom back — I wanted my freedom back.”

Benitez-Suarez fled from Mexico to the United States at the age of 15 after she was the victim of sexual assault, her family and her immigration attorney Marc Christopher have said. Christopher said she has no criminal record and has lived here for over three decades.

“I personally love this country,” Benitez-Suarez said. “I have honor and respect and follow every single rule, and I’ve been living a life abiding to the laws, and I do serve my community and I do serve my church, and I just want you to know that I am not, we are not here to harm the country. We are here to enrich this country.”

Elvira Benitez-Suarea (right) smiles after a check-in at an ICE field office in Milwaukee. Evan Casey/WPR

She was first detained last year by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after she accidentally entered Canada. She was held at an ICE detention facility in Ohio for more than five months.

The judge in that case decided she could get her green card, which would allow her to live and work permanently in the U.S. The federal government is appealing that decision.

Benitez-Suarez said she was at the Kentucky facility along with other inmates who were being held for non-immigration related, criminal offenses. She said there were around, “50 people from immigration, mostly moms separated from their kids.”

She complained about the medical care there, as she said she has a condition where she can’t eat processed foods.

“I mean I had no choice but to eat the food that they provide,” she said.

Benitez-Suarez has her own cleaning and painting company and is also involved with a local church.

She also said it was hard for her to be away from her children.

“It was a very hard process for our family,” she said. “We still trying to heal, after almost a year.”

Elvira Benitez Suarez is seen here. Photo courtesy of Crystal Aguilar

Benitez-Suarez’s oldest daughter, Crystal Aguilar, picked up her mother in Kentucky after she was released on Tuesday. Aguilar, who has four children of her own, has been helping watch her two younger siblings while her mother was in custody.

“It has been pretty hard, especially having to deal with everybody’s emotions, you know, having to comfort them,” Aguilar said. “Just having to deal with all the kids from different age groups … it’s a lot.”

Aguilar said she also stepped in to help with her mom’s business while she was in custody.

“I personally feel like my life is kind of just like a roller coaster right now,” she said. “I haven’t been able to get back to my routine and have that stability that I used to have.”

Benitez-Suarez went to a check-in at an ICE field office in downtown Milwaukee on Monday morning. Christopher said her location will be monitored while she is out on bond.

Her next check-in is in August.

The federal government’s appeal of the green card ruling is currently pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Christopher said the briefs are due on June 8.

“She has gone through the legal pathways to get her permanent resident status, and it is only the government who has chosen to appeal,” Christopher said. “It’s only right that she should be able to be with her family, out, while that appeal is pending.”

Christopher said the decision could take anywhere from 18 months to two years after the briefs are filed.

A Monday statement from a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, “Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities are FALSE.”

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, quality water, blankets, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” the statement said.

Wisconsin mother speaks out after being in ICE custody for over 2 months was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.