ICE Arrests Teenager Eating Lunch Weeks After Graduation

Federal immigration agents allegedly arrested a Guatemalan immigrant and legal permanent resident without a warrant as he ate lunch at his home in Kentucky just weeks after he graduated from high school.

Ernesto Manuel Andres, 18, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 4 in Bowling Green, according to immigrant advocates.

“This is terrifying, if someone with legal protections like Ernesto can be taken this way, no one is safe.” Luma Mufleh, founder of Fugees Family, told Newsweek.

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.

ICE agents were initially targeting someone else but apprehended Ernesto’s father. While in custody, agents reportedly asked the father to bring them to their apartment complex—where Ernesto was inside eating lunch.

“They initially detained Ernesto’s father because he resembled someone they were targeting,” Mufleh claimed.

“ICE entered his apartment without a warrant while he was having lunch and took him, even after he informed them of his legal status,” Mufleh said.

“If this can happen to a young man who just graduated and followed every legal step, it raises serious questions about the safety and rights of others in our community,” she added.

Upon entering the apartment, ICE agents detained Ernesto on the spot, despite his efforts to explain that he held Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status and was protected under deferred action.

His SIJ status—a legal protection granted to undocumented children in the U.S. who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents—should have shielded him from removal. Designed to offer vulnerable minors a pathway to lawful permanent residency, SIJ status is meant to protect them from deportation and ensure they can remain safely in the country as they rebuild their lives.

Ernesto arrived in the U.S. from Guatemala in December 2022 and has lived in Kentucky for about two and a half years.

Instead, he has been transferred between three detention facilities, with his current location listed as Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana.

Family members say the arrest has left them devastated and fearful.

“They’re devastated and afraid. They thought Ernesto was protected. Now they fear for him, and for themselves,” Mufleh said.

Despite decent conditions inside the detention center—where Ernesto has access to a bed and meals—the repeated transfers have left him frightened and destabilized, according to Mufleh.

No warrant was presented during the arrest. Advocates say the case raises serious questions about due process and the treatment of immigrants with legal status protections.