Teen released by ICE wants to stay in U.S.: "Doing the right things"

U.S. Teen soccer player released by ICE asks for chance to stay in U.S.: "I'm doing the right things" By Camilo Montoya-Galvez Camilo Montoya-Galvez Immigration Correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization's social media accounts. Read Full Bio Camilo Montoya-Galvez May 29, 2026 / 10:34 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Chicago — Just a few days ago, 18-year-old Ricardo Hernandez-Navarrete was stuck in an immigration detention center in Kentucky, fearing his dreams of playing professional soccer would be derailed by the specter of deportation On Thursday evening, Hernandez-Navarrete was back in Chicago to receive his high school diploma, after being unexpectedly released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Good, excited," Hernandez-Navarrete told CBS News when asked how he felt moments after graduation.The Colombian-born teen had spent over two months in ICE custody, after being arrested, alongside his mother, in March during what they expected would be a routine immigration appointment in Chicago. Being of legal age, he was separated from his mother and shuffled by ICE across the country, held in detention facilities in Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio and Kentucky.In his first national television interview, Hernandez-Navarrete said his detention was "hard to understand.""I couldn't play soccer," he said. "That's the most important thing in my life." Ricardo Hernandez-Navarrete CBS News Not being able to see or talk to his mother for weeks, he added, was also painful. "I had never been separated from him for so long," his mother, Martha Liliana Navarrete, told CBS News in Spanish.ICE released her last week, after a judge's order. She said she worried her son would be deported without her, dooming her dream of seeing him playing for a...