PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia nanny was detained by ICE at Philly International Airport in July as she tried to fly to a World Cup game. After nearly a month, she remains detained at a facility in New Mexico.
Thirty-year-old Iliana Lick and her boyfriend, Steven Melchiorre, had already flown to see Argentina’s first game of the World Cup in Kansas City, so they didn’t think much of flying there again to see her country take on Switzerland in the quarterfinal.
Lick bought a last-minute ticket to the July 11 game in Kansas City. Melchiorre dropped her off at Philadelphia International at 7 a.m.
An hour later, he got a call.
“It’s Iliana on the phone crying and she’s like, ‘ICE arrested me,’” he recalled. “It was such a shock. … Everything changed right then and there, because this was a disaster.”
Lick has been in the U.S. for the last three years. She met Melchiorre when they both lived in California, and she moved to Philly with him, where she now nannies for several families.
Melchiorre said she arrived on a travel visa that was extended. She was waiting for a hearing to change her status when she was detained by ICE.
In a statement, DHS said Lick overstayed her visa, and a pending application does not confer legal status.
In the last month, they have shared short phone calls from detention centers in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and now New Mexico, where Lick awaits a hearing with a judge to hopefully be released.
“The not knowing when they’re being transported is the hardest part,” Melchiorre said.
“I need this to be over with. It’s been so stressful for me because I’m worried for her. I feel bad for her; she’s in there for now, like, 26 days.”
Melchiorre created a Facebook group and GoFundMe to support Lick and keep her loved ones informed about her status, as they hold out hope that she will soon be released.
She was moved to detention centers in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and now New Mexico
She was moved to detention centers in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and now New Mexico
