Staring at her living room floor, the mother recalled how several “big, tall” immigration officers had been standing in the same spot a week earlier, counting her children.

Gladise was driving to work with her husband, Manuel, early one morning last week, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped the couple from Angola just outside of their southern Maine neighborhood.

As agents cuffed her hands behind her back, Gladise told them she was pregnant and worried about her unattended children at home. The agents, she said, asked to follow her home for proof. 

After seeing the four children, she said they agreed to release her — but detained Manuel.

“I cry all day, every day,” Gladise said in an interview on Thursday, a friend helping translate. 

An attorney for Manuel asked that the couple’s full names not be published, out of fear for their safety while they apply for asylum.

The couple, married for almost 18 years, has lived in Maine since 2019 after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, Gladise said.

Kira Gagarin, Manuel’s attorney, said the family was allowed into the country for humanitarian reasons and that he has been waiting for an immigration court hearing scheduled in 2028.

“They’ve attended all of their hearings,” Gagarin said, “and they’ve gone to all of their required check-ins.”

Gladise said the couple has moved cities three times and everywhere they’ve lived, Manuel has been vital to their community, helping other immigrants with English, offering them rides to church and picking up their groceries. 

Gladise said that, at the time he was arrested, her husband was working two jobs and had training as both a direct support professional for adults with intellectual disabilities and certified nursing assistant. She said he had also completed about two months of training to become a plumber. 

“He saw a lot of need in the community,” Gladise said. “He was trying to provide, on both sides, to help the community.” 

The family is behind on rent without Manuel to help pay the bills, she said. Gladise said she was about to start a new job but is now afraid to leave home.

“They saw my kids,” she said. “I’m traumatized. The kids are also traumatized. … They are always asking me if they (ICE) are going to come. And they are scared. They can’t even go outside.”

The family has received some support from their church, where a friend has helped Gladise cover the costs of calls from Manuel, who as of Thursday was being held at the Strafford County Correctional Facility in New Hampshire, according to an online locator run by ICE.

The family’s friend, Sam, said he had to spend about $50 for 10 minutes’ worth of phone calls.

“The husband was trying to work hard to pay the rent,” said Sam, who asked that his full name not be published out of concern for his personal safety.

“The wife’s been calling, crying,” Sam said. “We’ve been searching everywhere to see if we can find money for food.”

The family has launched a GoFundMe to help with Manuel’s legal case.

A U.S. District Court judge in New Hampshire ordered the Department of Justice to either give Manuel a bond hearing or justify why he is ineligible by Feb. 3.