ICE agents laughed at sobbing wife after detaining husband, family says

The wife of a man deported by federal authorities has told Newsweek that ICE agents mocked and laughed at her after she cried hysterically during her husband’s arrest.

Nicole Alvarez, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen from Pennsylvania, said her husband, Roberto Diego Alvarez Oliva, was detained by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer at Weis on River Ave in Williamsport while he was on his way to work in early May.

ICE agents surrounded him before allegedly forcing him to the ground and taking him away in handcuffs, while she stood nearby, clutching their 8-month-old son and sobbing.

“I learned from Diego that they were laughing at me in the car before leaving, pointing and saying, ‘I bet she is recording,'” Alvarez told Newsweek. “I was hysterical. I had our son, Denver, who is 8 months old, in my arms. “I couldn’t stop crying.”

Newsweek has contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment.

“My life was falling apart, and they were laughing at me. We have no idea what made them come after him. He has no criminal record or anything.”

Oliva, a Peruvian national, had been living in the United States for three years and had no criminal record, according to his wife. He has a small cleaning company and works buffing floors at local stores.

Oliva, 34, missed a scheduled immigration court date in June 2024 after his notice was sent to an old address. Alvarez, then heavily pregnant with medical complications, said they had no idea about the court date or the resulting order of removal until it was too late.

“They dressed me like a criminal,” Diego reportedly told his wife during one of their phone calls from Clinton County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania, where he was held for two weeks before being transferred to detention centers in Texas and then Louisiana.

Alvarez said he was eventually deported to his home country of Peru, where he arrived in handcuffs and was allegedly not fed for 24 hours.

The family’s attempts to halt Oliva’s deportation were unsuccessful. Alvarez and her lawyer submitted marriage documentation, their son’s birth certificate, his tax ID number, proof that he paid taxes, letters of support, and even a letter from her neurologist explaining how his removal would severely impact her health. It was still denied.

Alvarez said her husband had been the family’s sole provider, supporting her, their baby Denver, and her older son, Scout, from a previous relationship. Following his deportation, Ale was forced to sell nearly all their possessions, including their house, and move in with her mother.

“I am moving out of my home because my husband was deported, and we lost everything with this happening,” Alvarez said.

“ICE is destroying families for nothing. My husband works and takes care of the family,” she said.

She believes racial bias played a role in her husband’s treatment and ultimate deportation. “As terrible as it sounds, I truly believe he was taken from our family because of his skin color, because of his accent, and because he speaks Spanish.”

Oliva is now struggling to find work in Lima, where wages are low and sending money to the U.S. is nearly impossible. The family is exploring costly legal options to bring him back legally, a process that could take years and cost up to $10,000. In the meantime, they plan to visit him in Peru as often as possible. The family has set up a page on GoFundMe to help cover the costs.

“We can now only be a family over FaceTime,” she said. “We’re heartbroken. We’re traumatized. We just want to be together.”

“All of this has made me want to get into activism,” she added. “People need to see what’s happening to average families, so no one can pretend this isn’t real.”