A steak restaurant worker said she has been left heartbroken after her fiancé was abruptly arrested by ICE at a mall where they worked. 

Andres Paredes Morales, 23, was preparing to wed his colleague, Amanda Souza, whom he met at the Fogo de Chao steakhouse located in the King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania. 

However, while at his second job at the District Taco restaurant within the same mall, Souza reported that Morales was apprehended by four plainclothes immigration officers on July 31. 

A video captured by one of Morales’ colleagues showed him waving back toward the kitchen as he was led out by the agents. They informed him that they needed to question him outside following a complaint alleging his involvement in a crime. 

According to Souza, the agents would not show a warrant or provide any details to her about the complaint, and said Morales called her to help because he does not speak English. 

She said she raced to the scene, but was five minutes away when an agent told her over the phone that Morales was already being detained. 

Souza said she has been left in limbo waiting for her fiancé after he was moved to the U.S. and Customs Enforcement facility in central Pennsylvania, and insisted he does not belong there. 

Morales, a Venezuelan migrant who moved to the US in 2024, obtained a work authorization permit to stay in the country via humanitarian parole, and has no criminal record in the US or in Venezuela, Souza told the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Andres Paredes Morales, 23, was set to marry his coworker Amanda Souza (pictured together) before he was abruptly detained by ICE agents in a mall where they worked on July 31, despite him having a work permit and no criminal record 

Footage taken by one of Morales’ coworkers showed him wave back to his kitchen as he was being escorted out by the agents, who told him that they wanted to question him outside after receiving a complaint that he was involved in a crime

Morales has an immigration court hearing scheduled for May 2026 for an extended work visa, and was carrying his permit at the time he was detained, his fiancé said. 

‘He’s always working,’ she told the Inquirer. ‘I live with him. There’s no crime.’ 

She said that Morales moved to the US to escape rampant crime in Venezuela, and proposed marriage just months after they started working together at the mall. 

‘He told me many times, ‘In the future we’re gonna be OK, and I’m gonna help you,’ Souza recalled. 

He worked both restaurant jobs to make extra cash to send home to his mother, and his work permit was not set to expire until May 21, 2026. 

Morales’ attorney Alexis Price told the Inquirer that she is unsure why he was detained by ICE and why he has not yet been released, and said to her knowledge there is no pending criminal case against him. 

Price added that Montgomery County has recently become a hotbed for ICE activity, and said she has seen many similar cases where agents coax a migrant from their workplace to ask them a question outside before detaining them. 

‘It’s a bit like the Wild West here,’ she said. 

‘Every day there’s something new we haven’t seen before.’ 

Souza said that she feels her partner was swept up unfairly, and argued that ‘just because you’re from Venezuela, they associate you with a gang’ 

Souza said that Morales moved to the US to escape rampant crime in Venezuela, and proposed marriage just months after they met. ‘He told me many times, ‘In the future we’re gonna be OK, and I’m gonna help you,’ Souza recalled

Souza tearfully said that she has been left in limbo waiting for her fiancé’s immigration case to be settled, and has only been able to talk to him over the phone

Souza said that she feels her partner was swept up unfairly, and argued that ‘just because you’re from Venezuela, they associate you with a gang.’ 

She said she has only been able to talk to Morales over the phone as he languishes in Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center, and he expects to be transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center soon. 

The center, four hours away from their home in Norristown, has been reportedly plagued with issues including a lack of medical access and mistreatment from staff, according to a 2024 report by the Social Justice Lawyering Clinic at Temple University. 

Souza said the abrupt arrest has upended their life, and they went from planning their wedding to fighting through the complex immigration system. 

In a GoFundMe to pay for his case, Souza wrote that he ‘deserves to be home, not behind bars.’

‘He deserves justice, and I need him back. We need each other,’ she wrote. 

Souza’s nationality is unclear.