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."
She believes the slow pace is by design.
"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.
"As the government takes longer to process applications, that means people are vulnerable to being arrested by ICE because they don't have a set status approved by the federal government," said Adriel Orozco, a senior policy counsel with the American Immigration Council.
According to Homero Calderón's family, the man has never committed a crime in the U.S. or in any other part of the world. NPR found no evidence of any past or pending criminal cases.
In the past, people like Calderón with pending USCIS applications or immigration court cases weren't priorities for detention.
"The government would allow those individuals to continue to follow that process," Orozco said, adding that going after them is "a waste of resources because at the end of the day, those individuals could be potentially approved for those statuses."
But Orozco says under the Trump administration that has shifted. Now every immigrant — despite the status of their immigration case — could be detained.
Waiting for his release
Ramón Calderón told NPR his brother Homero is disciplined, a skill honed after years of playing soccer professionally.
"When he was 2-years-old I remember when I used to play, he was running around the field," Ramón Calderón said.
At 16, Homero Calderón signed his first professional contract with Sport Club Guaraní in Venezuela, his brother said. Most of his career he's played midfield.
He last played professional soccer last year for the Italian team A.S.D. Arboris Belli 1979.
Throughout his life, his brother said, Homero Calderón has always followed the rules and laws no matter in which country he was.
That's what he did when he came to the U.S., Ramón Calderón said.
"He followed every single step of the process legally to obtain the legal status," he said.
Ramón Calderón himself is a U.S. citizen. He said his brother and mother have been coming to the U.S. since they were little kids. They never overstayed their visas, he said.
"We've done everything under the legality of what the immigration laws are," Ramón Calderón said. "So it's very, very hard and very difficult for our family to see him go through this nightmare."
It's unclear for how long Homero Calderón will remain in detention.
In a statement, DHS said Calderón will remain in ICE custody "pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings."
His brother hopes a resolution comes soon.
"We thought his case was strong, that we will get him out on bail and then follow his process and everything was going to be good there, but it's been six months," Ramón Calderón said. "We just need his process to have an answer, a final answer on his visa and his residency case. Whatever that result is going to be, we will accept."
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