SALISBURY, Md.- A Salisbury man is mourning the loss of his son while his wife remains in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Rigo Lopez says his wife, Arlit Maria Martinez, was detained by ICE on Saturday while on her way to work on Mt. Herman Road. Two days later, their 15-year-old son, Kevin Martinez, a student at Parkside High School, died from cancer.
Martinez remained in custody and did not get the chance to say goodbye to her son.
“This is too much for me, it’s very bad news because my wife won’t stay with me, and my son is no more with me either,” Lopez said. “She’s never gonna see him no more… we tried to take her out but they wouldn’t let her come out to say goodbye.”
Paola Subervi, a member of the local Latino community who does not personally know the family, has been advocating on their behalf. She reached out to ICE over the weekend, asking for Martinez’s temporary release so she could see her son, but her request was denied.
“We’re not asking her to come home to go back to work,” Subervi said. “We want her to come home and be able to mourn the loss of her son.”
As of Monday, Lopez said he is left to grieve alone.
According to Maryland court records, the only item on Martinez’s record is a traffic citation from a 2015 accident. She pleaded guilty but was not sentenced to jail. ICE has not responded to requests for comment, and Martinez remains in a Baltimore detention facility.