ICE detained a Venezuelan soccer pro. His case shows the immigration backlog crisis

Homero Calderón, a Venezuelan professional soccer player, has been detained in an ICE detention center for nearly six months, despite having two immigration processes pending. Ramón Calderón hide caption

Homero Calderón used to spend his days training at the gym and on the soccer pitch. The professional soccer player built a long career, playing for clubs in Venezuela, Portugal, Cyprus and, most recently, Italy.

But for the last five months, Calderón has spent his days inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Folkston, Ga.

He's a father of two U.S. citizens, ages 1 and 3. Stuck in detention, his family says he's growing despondent. He recently missed his daughter's first birthday.

"I've been 17 years with Homero," his wife Daniela Molina said in a video published on social media. "I had never heard him cry or ask for help like he has."

Calderón was driving to a car shop in Florida in late February when he was pulled over for speeding by the Marion County Sheriff's Office and arrested for driving without a valid Florida license, the Department of Homeland Security told NPR in a statement. Molina said her husband had a valid international driving permit.

Calderón was eventually transferred to ICE custody. He's been in detention ever since.

In a statement to NPR, DHS said Calderón had "permission to stay until September 5, 2025" but that "he overstayed his welcome in violation of our nation's laws."

But Calderón was in the middle of two pending immigration cases when he was detained: he had applied on Aug. 25, 2025 for an extension of his tourist visa, and had also applied for a visa for people with extraordinary abilities. Called EB-1A visa, it allows people with extraordinary ability or achievement in fields including athletics, science, arts, education, and business to stay in the U.S. with a green card.

Neither open case kept him from being swept up in President Trump's immigration crackdown. His case represents a broader pattern, said Shev Dalal-Dheini, the senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"His case is symbolic of so many other individuals who are stuck in processing backlogs at USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) — individuals doing the right thing by filing their applications timely," Dalal-Dheini said. "But it's taking many, many, many months, if not in certain instances years, to have a case processed."

"It's an easy way for the government to meet their quota to detain and deport individuals when they know who individuals are because they've done the right thing and applied for something," Dalal-Dheini said.

The backlog of cases at USCIS now stands at a staggering 11.3 million pending cases. The backlog was already high before President Trump took office, but since 2025 it has increased by more than 1.6 million cases, according to an analysis by the American Immigration Council .

And even though USCIS has received fewer immigration petitions, it also processed about 41% fewer cases at the beginning of the 2025 fiscal year, the group found.