Sergio Cerdio Gomez arrived at his scheduled immigration appointment in Yakima, Washington on April 24, 2025. He expected to move forward with his residency application. Instead, ICE agents detained the 42-year-old Pasco father of three and deported him to Mexico seven weeks later.
The detention happened though he had a US citizen wife, three American children, and a food truck business. The issue: a 2015 misdemeanor drug conviction made him inadmissible, despite three years of legal proceedings.
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Detained at Routine USCIS Interview
Gabby Cerdio, a US citizen, accompanied her husband to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office for what they believed would be a standard interview. The couple had filed an I-130 spousal petition in early 2023, the application process that allows American citizens to help their foreign-born spouses gain permanent residency through adjustment of status.
They brought everything USCIS requested: birth certificates for their two young children, their marriage licence, business documentation for Hibachi Explosion food truck, and records from Sergio’s previous marriage showing his teenage daughter.
Officials separated them immediately. Sergio went into a back room while Gabby waited. When she asked to see her husband, agents refused and positioned themselves between her and the door.
After 30 minutes, an ICE agent appeared and told her he was being detained on a warrant. She asked to see the paperwork. Agents refused. Their lawyers later searched for records of this warrant and found nothing in the system.
ICE transported Sergio to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center that afternoon. He would spend the next seven weeks there before his hearing.
The 2015 Arrest Behind the Warrant
Agents cited a warrant connected to an arrest a decade earlier. Pasco police had charged Sergio with possession of methamphetamine in 2015. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of drug paraphernalia use in Franklin County Superior Court and served up to 90 days in jail.
Gabby maintained the conviction had been expunged. At the June 13 immigration hearing, their attorney failed to present documentation proving the record had been cleared. The judge ruled the conviction created grounds for inadmissibility.
A federal immigration judge denied Sergio’s petition and imposed a 20-year ban on re-entry to the United States. Three days later, on June 16, ICE deported him to Chiapas, Mexico.
The outcome wasn’t unique. Across the country in 2025, immigrants with decades-old convictions faced similar removal proceedings, including green card holders who had their status revoked. Others, like a New Zealand mother held 23 days with her son over expired travel documents, were caught in expanded enforcement that affected people actively pursuing legal status.
Family Runs Food Truck After Detention
Sergio and Gabby met in 2014 while working at a restaurant in Richland, Washington. They married in July 2022 and opened Hibachi Explosion in Kennewick the following April, the same month they submitted his residency paperwork to USCIS.
The food truck operates at 7425 West Clearwater Avenue. With Sergio detained and later deported, Gabby runs the business alone while caring for their young son, their infant daughter, and his teenage daughter from a previous relationship.
During the seven weeks Sergio spent in detention, Gabby made three trips to Tacoma to visit him. Community members organized eat-ins at the food truck to help with income. Local residents created “Free Sergio” buttons and attended protests in the Tri-Cities area. A GoFundMe campaign raised thousands for legal fees.
“Support the business. The business supports me and my kids,” Gabby told the Tri-City Herald after the arrest.
Speaking to KEPRTV, Gabby said: “[He showed up because] it would have been a denial if he didn’t. My husband is not a criminal, he’s not a felon. He’s a family guy and a business owner.”
Detained During 2025 Enforcement Surge
Sergio’s detention occurred as ICE enforcement expanded significantly. The agency arrested more than 66,000 people in the first 100 days after President Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, according to federal data.
Newsweek documented multiple instances where immigrants with pending applications were detained at scheduled USCIS appointments throughout 2025. Mohsen Mahdawi was detained during a naturalization interview in Vermont. Rosmery Alvarado was arrested at a field office appointment. Many had no recent criminal history.
Immigration lawyers now tell clients: don’t go to USCIS appointments without legal counsel present, and avoid international travel during status adjustments.
Family Faces Years of Separation
Sergio first crossed the US border in 1998 at age 14. He spent 27 years in America before deportation.
Their young son asks when his father is coming home. His teenage daughter helps at the food truck more than any child should have to. The baby was 10 months old when ICE took her father.
Gabby wrote on Facebook in June that their lawyer “didn’t know anything about our case” at the final hearing. She said the family would consult new attorneys about options for challenging the 20-year re-entry ban, though such waivers are rarely granted under immigration law.
Eight months after his detention, Gabby still opens Hibachi Explosion six days a week, 11am to 9pm. The family plans to visit Sergio in Mexico once he settles with relatives there.
The 20-year ban leaves them with an impossible choice: wait decades for Sergio’s legal return, or relocate to Mexico together and leave their business and the only home the children have known.
