An undocumented Phoenixville man is happy to be home after he was detained by ICE for two months despite agents mistaking him for another man when they arrested him.
Pablo Osorio said he was walking to his job at the Phoenixville Café in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, during the early morning hours of February 8, 2025, when he was stopped by ICE agents. A woman asked him what he did for work and a man in ICE gear got out of a car and arrested him.
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WATCH HEREOsorio has been living undocumented in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, is described as hard-working and has no criminal record. ICE agents had no arrest warrant for Osorio, but had an arrest warrant for another man who agents believed Osorio fit the description of.
“It's five in the morning. It's cold out. He's wearing a jacket and probably jeans — that fits almost anyone's description," Christopher Bagnato, Osorio's immigration lawyer, told Yukare Nakayama. "And when they realized he was undocumented, they took him. That' what they call collateral.”
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SIGN UP Bagnato said Osorio was taken to several ICE detention centers across the country, with him spending time in Texas, New Jersey and then Arizona.
Osorio has been out of custody for three weeks after being released on bond, and is now barely leaving his home.
"He’s obviously not a danger to the community. He's been here over 18 years with a clean criminal record," Bagnato said. "When we finally were in front of a judge, he granted him a reasonable bond.”
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Despite making the U.S. his home, Osorio has never applied for citizenship. He never imagined he would end up in the situation he is in now.
Osorio is now looking into applying for citizenship and getting a work visa with the help of Bagnato, who recommends people in similar situations begin the citizenship process as it could help during detainment.
In the meantime, Osorio and Bagnato are waiting to hear when their next court date is going to be. They say this is just the beginning of their fight.
