CHICAGO (WGN) The daughter of a man detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and then defamed online is speaking out, saying he’s been painted as a sexual predator with a violent past when he has no criminal history.

“We are being targeted right now, and it’s sad,” said Tania Ramos, talking about her dad, Columbino, whom she hasn’t seen in weeks. 

“I am hoping that he boards his removal flight very soon because I just don’t want him in there, detained any more, or suffering.”

Ramos said her father has been in America undocumented for many years, making a living for his loved ones by collecting scrap metal for resale. Last month, he got a call to pick up some scrap metal on the 5700 block of North Harlem in Norwood Park. When he arrived, ICE agents were waiting for him. Believing him to be someone else, agents took him anyway. 

“He was basically set up. There were no alleys, no sights of metal or anything like that,” Ramos said.

Brought to the Broadview facility for processing, Ramos said her father voluntarily signed removal papers to go back to Guatemala as a result of numerous health issues. Ramos noted that her father had been bounced around the country, instead, from facility to facility, across five states.

Things took a more unusual twist on Tuesday when the man leading the Operation Midway Blitz took to social media.  

Greg Bovino boated on X, formerly Twitter, about a very specific arrest, describing how his agents took a man into custody who had “… allegedly posed as a rideshare driver in Chicago … and sexually assaulted a woman inside his vehicle after picking her up outside a local nightclub.”

Bovino referenced 40-year-old Alexander Ramos, but in his post, he included a picture of Tania Ramos’ father instead.

“Very insensitive to everybody to be posted like that. This is my father. It made me very angry,” she said. “I have no other words to express but anger. It was very disappointing as well. They photographed him without his consent. You can see he’s trying to look away, and the officers turned around to protect what? Their identity?”

Loved ones fiercely expressed their anger at seeing a family member dragged and defamed online. 

“All of that was awful to read. What they are saying about them is outrageously wrong. My father has no criminal record. He has never been convicted of a crime. It’s just very disgraceful.”

In Bovino’s post, the man actually accused in the aggravated sexual assault case mentioned was “…released from detention two days after his arrest. With a lengthy and violent criminal record dating back to 2002, why has he been living free as a bird in the Windy City? Because of Chicago’s embrace of sanctuary policies, which hurt rather than help its residents.”

In reality, Alexander Ramos has been locked up in the Cook County Jail since the middle of August. 

For Tania’s family, the hope is that Columbino gets back to his home country soon. When that happens, she says they’ll be on the first flight out to make sure he’s OK.