KY teens struggle to raise money after father detained by ICE. ‘He is everything we have’
.jpg "This 2017 file photo shows ICE officers making an arrest in Los Angeles.")
Three Kentucky teenagers are scrambling to raise money to pay for a lawyer after their father was arrested on a minor traffic charge and then later taken into U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement custody.
Adrian Garcia-Zaragoza, who has been in the United States for 20 years, was arrested on Thursday on an outstanding warrant related to failing to pay a traffic violation, according to his family.
He was then turned over to ICE and is now facing deportation, his family said.
ICE has stepped up enforcement of immigration laws since President Donald Trump took office in January. ICE officials announced last week it had detained 81 people in Kentucky from March 10 to March 14.
His three teenage kids Kadence Walker, 19, Selena Garcia,18, Isaiah Garcia, 17, are now trying to raise money for legal fees and are bracing for a future without their father.
The three sold what they could so they could pay Garcia-Zaragoza’s $1,500 bail. Yet Garcia-Zaragoza was not released. He was taken into ICE custody instead.
Walker said they have been told he has a deportation order.
He previously had a work permit and was going through the immigration courts to try to become a legal citizen. But in 2022, their home burned down, he lost all of the documents needed to complete the paperwork. He never returned to court, his kids said Wednesday.
“We were told today he has a deportation order out. He didn’t even know about it,” Walker said during a telephone interview with the Herald-Leader.
Federal immigration officials did not immediately return an email asking for comment.
“We sold all of our stuff like TVs. My brother sold his truck, his truck parts, everything, and that only paid for the deposit. And then we had to buy food, and then we’re gonna have to pay rent, water, everything if he doesn’t get out,” Walker told WKYT, the first to report the story. WKYT is the Lexington Herald-Leader’s reporting partner.
The teens met with a lawyer on Wednesday. It’s not clear if there is anything the lawyer can do to halt their father’s deportation order. Walker said her father was arrested on her brother’s birthday. Her brother still hasn’t eaten his birthday cake because his father wasn’t there to celebrate.
Complicating Garcia-Yaragoza’s case is there is someone with a similar name that has been convicted of much more serious criminal charges, Walker said.
“I’ve had to tell these lawyers that’s not my Dad,” she said. He has had traffic violations, largely for not having a driver’s license and for failure to pay fines. He also had one misdemeanor public intoxication charge, state court records show.
Garcia-Yaragoza not only supports his immediate family but Walker’s aunt and his mother-in-law who is ill.
He has been the one constant in the three teenagers lives, Walker said.
Garcia-Yaragoza worked a series of construction and remodeling jobs to support his family. He did not have the money after the house burned down to pay attorneys to complete his immigration applications, she said.
Her father paid taxes every year, she said.
Walker said she and her family feel guilty that he choose to support them and their extended family rather than pay to finish the process to become a legal United States citizen.
“He would do anything for us and now we don’t have the money to support him,” Walker said.
Walker said in a Facebook post her father is a man with a big heart who frequently helps those who have nothing.
“He is everything we have. He has been there for us our entire life and provided anything we have ever needed. My dad is the most caring person I have ever met,” Walker said.
Some people who have heard their story have been supportive. Others have spewed anti-immigrant vitriol, she said.
The teens have been trying to raise money through Venmo and Cash App. But that hasn’t gone well.
A fraudster tried to duplicate or mimic Walker’s Venmo in order to siphon off funds from the fundraising effort, she said.
“They have set up like four phony accounts,” Walker said.
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
