Gina Vega sat, crying, in the living room of her basement apartment in Queens. The place felt eerily empty and silent; Her teenage son’s voice no longer echoed within those walls since he was detained by ICE last year, leaving her alone with her despair.
The Ecuadorian mother wiped away tears as she thought about her 18-year-old son, whom she has not seen in more than two months. Despite the deep pain that invades her, she continues to fight for her release from an immigration detention center in Virginia.
Jorge David Delgado Videla was detained on November 5 inside the 26 Federal Plaza building, in Lower Manhattan, after arriving with his mother for what they believed would be a routine appointment with ICE on the fifth floor.
“They told me to pick up Jorge’s things and leave,” Vega recalled. “I haven’t seen him since that day. They told me to be thankful they weren’t arresting me too.”
While Homeland Security officials insist that ICE is detaining “the worst of the worst,” that is, violent criminals, Videla only has one arrest for a misdemeanor on his record.
Videla was arrested by the NYPD in August after an argument with a man at the Flushing train station. According to Vega, the stranger began to yell at his son and the situation led to a verbal confrontation.
Although the argument never became physical, both were arrested and charged with menacing, a misdemeanor. Months later, ICE sent a letter demanding that Videla appear at the appointment that would end up marking his destiny.
Mother of teenager detained in Queens: “He should not be locked up”
Vega accompanied his son inside 26 Federal Plaza when, suddenly, an ICE agent pointed out the young man and took him to another room, where he was informed that his fingerprints and photographs would be taken. It was the last time she saw him.
An ICE agent then returned with Videla’s belt and headphones and told her they would call her later. Without explanation, the agents also confiscated Vega’s passport.
Both Vega and his son had requested asylum in the United States after fleeing threats from an Ecuadorian gang, known as “Los Choneros” or “Águilas,” who had tried to recruit the teenager two years earlier. Close friends of Videla lost their lives at the hands of that same organization. The young man was studying at Pan American International High School and was scheduled to graduate in July 2026.
The same afternoon of his arrest, Vega received a call from his son confirming his greatest fear: ICE was detaining him indefinitely. With the help of a friend, she later learned that he had been transferred from New York to another detention center in Virginia.
Videla’s detention on the fifth floor comes after our sister publication, amNewYork, published a special report last year that documented the increase in immigrant arrests in that specific area of 26 Federal Plaza. Access to the fifth floor is restricted and arrests are made out of sight of the press and the public.
According to Vega, his son is detained in a cell with people much older than him, despite being only 18 years old. The center’s authorities allow him little recreational time and limited access to the gym. Videla refuses most meals and only consumes instant noodles provided by the staff.
“He cries. He says that he should not be locked up, that he is not a criminal. He asks why they are keeping him detained,” Vega said, recounting what he has been able to learn through the few calls he manages to have with his son.
Since his arrest, ICE has offered him “voluntary departure” to Mexico, even though Videla is Ecuadorian and has no ties to that country. A court hearing is scheduled for January 20, where it will be determined whether he will face deportation.
Other family members also spoke to amNewYork in defense of the young man.
Yadira, Jorge’s aunt, describes him as a calm and respectful person, always willing to help others. He also denounced the devastating impact that the detention has had on his mother, since Videla was the main breadwinner of the home.
“It’s very hard for her mother,” Yadira said. “She is depressed because he is her only company here. Every day we pray for strength, so that she can stay and start her life again.”
