The parents of twin college soccer players described their distress after the brothers were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while returning to their Alabama campus.
Wallace State Community College athletes Luis and Carlos Orta Santoro, both 19, were taken into ICE custody after a traffic stop on November 4 as they traveled back to campus, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Venezuelan-born twins had been visiting their parents, Carlos Enrique Orta and Reyna Santoro de Orta, in Georgia. They were stopped by a Lincoln Police Department officer in east-central Alabama during their return journey.
The brothers attended Archer High School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where they helped the varsity soccer team secure the school’s first-ever region championship.
‘This is the house of two elite soccer players,’ their father, Carlos Enrique Orta, told the outlet.
Luis and Carlos are seeking asylum after entering the United States legally on tourist visas, as their parents did.
After their visas expired, the twins were issued U.S. work permits and Georgia driver’s licenses, the outlet reported.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, told the Daily Mail on Saturday that the brothers entered the country lawfully on June 21, 2022, with permission to remain temporarily, but later ‘illegally overstayed in defiance of our laws.’
Twin brothers and soccer players Luis and Carlos Orta Santoro, both 19, were taken into ICE custody on November 5 after being arrested the previous day
Luis and Carlos played for Archer High School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, helping the team win a region title
The brothers were arrested while returning from a visit with their parents, Carlos Enrique Orta and Reyna Santoro de Orta (both left)
The DHS spokesperson told the Daily Mail that all of the brothers’ claims would be considered by an immigration judge and that they would receive due process.
‘This administration will not ignore the rule of law,’ the spokesperson said, adding: ‘To be clear, pending applications do NOT confer legal status.’
Carlos was named his high school’s offensive player of the year, while Luis received the school’s midfield player of the year award.
The brothers began attending Wallace State this fall on soccer scholarships. They now face the possibility of deportation to Venezuela.
‘It’s been hell,’ their mother, Reyna Santoro de Orta, told the outlet.
She said she supported ICE removing criminals from the country but insisted that her sons did not belong in that category.
The brothers remain in custody while their asylum case awaits a final decision.
Their mother said police told her that the twins’ vehicle had failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign.
A Lincoln Police Department officer arrested the brothers as they returned to Wallace State Community College, where they attend on soccer scholarships
The family sought asylum after entering the United States legally on tourist visas. DHS said the brothers had ‘illegally overstayed in defiance of our laws’
The Lincoln Police Department entered into a partnership agreement with ICE in July.
According to the Cullman Tribune, ICE said the agreement allows specially trained local officers to exercise limited immigration authority during routine police duties under federal supervision.
Luis and Carlos were booked into the Talladega County Jail on November 4 before being transferred to ICE custody the following day.
Their father said the family had been struggling with guilt as they discussed what had happened to the young men.
‘If anyone is at fault, it’s me. It’s us,’ Orta told the outlet. ‘Because I insist and I will continue to insist that Carlos and Luis came here because of a decision we made.’
He continued: ‘Carlos and Luis stayed here because of a decision from mom and dad. Carlos and Luis are here because of us.’
The twins were transferred to the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in southern Louisiana after their arrest, WABE reported.
The brothers were taken to the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in southern Louisiana
The Lincoln Police Department signed a partnership agreement with ICE in July, and one of its officers arrested the brothers
Nicolas Azcarate Florez, a friend of the twins, said he had spoken with them several times since their detention.
‘They’ve been saying that they’ve been moved five times, so it has been difficult for them,’ Azcarate Florez told the outlet.
He described the brothers as players ‘that you could just give the ball to, and you would know that they would do something good with it.’
‘If we needed them, we would know that they would be there to help us out of a sticky situation,’ he added.
The arrests came during the same week that Republicans faced a historic blue wave in the midterm elections, which was widely viewed as a rejection of the party’s immigration policies.
After the elections, one of President Donald Trump’s first moves was to appoint Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.
Miller, one of Trump’s most trusted and longest-serving advisers since his first administration, is known for his hardline position on immigration.
Critics have described Miller as the architect of several of Trump’s most divisive policies, including the separation of migrant families during deportations in the President’s first term.