Wife of detained immigrant joins lawmakers in D.C. to push for immigration reform
Angela Della Valle, whose husband has been in immigration detention for nine months, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers and other immigrant families on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to advocate for her husband’s release and raise awareness of a congressional bill that could allow her family to remain in the United States.
Since August, her husband has been ping-ponged between immigration detention facilities, from Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades to the Winn Correctional Center in the middle of Louisiana’s Kisatchie National Forest.
“I’m a United States citizen. I’m a public school teacher. I’m a mother, and instead of being with my students, I’m here because my husband of 24 years is sitting in a detention facility,” Della Valle said.
Della Valle, 49, is fighting to keep her family together after her husband, Carlos Della Valle, turned himself in to immigration officials last summer. Her husband, a Mexican citizen, has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years and has no criminal record. To prevent her family from being separated, Della Valle has been traveling across the country, staying in more than 20 hotels and rental properties.
“I’m standing here in front of our nation’s Capitol, and I’m begging. I’m begging for his release,” she said.
Della Valle said her husband worked and paid taxes and for decades. They met with more than 40 immigration lawyers across the country to adjust his status based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, but were repeatedly told to “wait for reform. Be patient.”
“There is no legal pathway for a family like ours, not because we didn’t try, but because Congress never built one,” she said.
Marrying a U.S. citizen provides a pathway to citizenship, but only if you entered lawfully. Carlos crossed the border in 1997 and was deported. He crossed again, an offense punishable by up to two years. In 2024, he was detained by immigration officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands after a family Christmas vacation.
In 2025, a U.S. Virgin Islands jury found him not guilty of crossing the border, but he remained in the country without legal status and was detained as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Wednesday’s gathering at the foot of the Capitol in Washington, DC, was organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition. The event aimed to spotlight “common-sense immigration solutions” for immigrants who have been working and living in the United States for years without legal status.
That includes the Dignity Act, a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar, a Miami Republican. The legislation aims to provide a legal pathway for immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for years without criminal records, allowing them to remain with their families without the threat of deportation.
Faced with the choice of indefinite detention, many U.S. citizens with undocumented partners are debating leaving the country, according to a December report by American Families United, a nonprofit that works with U.S. citizens with undocumented spouses like Della Valle.
Della Valle said Salazar’s Dignity Act provides the legal pathway for families like hers.
Salazar, who is running for reelection, has faced criticism from her Republican colleagues who describe her Dignity Act as a broad amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally. She stated on Wednesday that she opposes amnesty.
“Amnesty is what’s happening right now. Amnesty is not dignity. Dignity is in the middle. This is good for the Democrats. This is good for the Republicans,” she said.
Salazar said that under the Dignity Act, people like Angela’s husband will never have a pathway to citizenship because “they broke the law,” but he would be able to return home to his family in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She said immigrants who meet the bill’s criteria would have to pay a $7,000 fine, would never be able to receive any federal government benefits like Medicaid and food assistance, and would have to pay the government 1 percent of their salary for seven years.
The Dignity Act has 39 bipartisan supporters but has not advanced to a vote in the House. Salazar told reporters Wednesday that she had been in discussions with the White House and that, ultimately, it was up to President Donald Trump.
Speakers at the rally included leaders from various business sectors who emphasized the need for workers and the importance of work permits for long-term, law-abiding immigrants. Massey Villarreal, a Texas technology executive, warned that Republicans will lose congressional districts in Texas and other red states because “the record number of Latinos like [him] who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 want a solution, not more problems.”
Surrounded by lawmakers including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Della Valle pleaded with immigration officials to bring her husband home.
“He’s done everything right, and we love this country. We just want to go home to our son in Chester County, cut grass, cook dinner,” she said.
“What’s happening in my family should not be happening in America.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 10:35 AM.