One day away from a long-awaited reunion; a father and husband detained by ICE for nearly 10 months is finally coming home.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Ricardo Mercado can be released on bond. KRON4 spoke to his wife.
The judge decided that Mercado was not a danger to society and that he’s not a flight risk.
He has a wife and three kids under the age of 11, who haven’t seen him at home since he was swept up by ICE last July.
Thirty-eight-year-old Ricardo Mercado is coming home.
The undocumented immigrant was swept up by ICE last July as his wife was sleeping.
He was on his way to work.
“He’s coming, and he come to help me,” Mercado’s wife Lila Perez said. “He come to enjoy the kids. Especially him, the little one. He don’t know who’s his dad. Right now, he says papa to everybody. He don’t have any clear idea who’s his dad.”
Mercado has been living in the Bay Area for nearly two decades.
He works at a coffee shop and has two young girls and a little boy who’s not 2 yet.
“They cry, especially the bigger, she knows what’s going on,” Perez said. “She cry a lot, and she’s like mommy, what that happen to my dad? I don’t have any answers for her.”
Mercado has been ordered to leave the country twice and has a DUI from 2006.
But otherwise, has no criminal history.
His lawyer is trying to get him a U visa, which is given to people who have helped law enforcement.
Mercado once tipped off Oakland police to alleged child abuse at his daughter’s daycare.
His case is still in limbo, but he’ll be able to fight for his status while home with his family.
“Oh my God, I can tell you,” Perez said. “Very, very happy.”
His wife has to pay a $5,000 bond before he can come home.
She’s hoping to be able to do that tomorrow.