Homero Calderón spent a decade building a professional soccer career, playing midfield for clubs in Venezuela, Portugal, Cyprus and Italy after signing his first pro contract at age 16. For the past six months, he's instead been confined to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Folkston, Georgia — while two separate visa applications sit unresolved in a record-breaking federal backlog.

According to NPR's reporting, Calderón was pulled over for speeding by the Marion County Sheriff's Office in Florida in late February while driving to a car shop. He was arrested for driving without a valid Florida license — though his wife, Daniela Molina, says he was carrying a valid international driving permit — and was later transferred into ICE custody. He has been held ever since.

A Father of Two US Citizens

Calderón is the father of two American-citizen children, ages 1 and 3, and missed his daughter's first birthday while detained. His brother, Ramón Calderón, is also a U.S. citizen. NPR found no evidence of any past or pending criminal case against him, in the U.S. or anywhere else.

"I'VE BEEN 17 YEARS WITH HOMERO. I HAD NEVER HEARD HIM CRY OR ASK FOR HELP LIKE HE HAS."

That's how his wife described the toll of his detention to NPR. His brother added: "We've done everything under the legality of what the immigration laws are."

At the time he was detained, Calderón had two immigration processes pending: an application filed August 25, 2025 to extend his tourist visa, and a separate EB-1A petition — a visa category reserved for people with "extraordinary ability" in fields including athletics. The Department of Homeland Security contends he overstayed permission that expired September 5, 2025.

A Backlog in the Millions

Calderón's monthslong wait is playing out against the backdrop of a historic slowdown at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency's total pending caseload hit 11.3 million by the end of the 2026 fiscal year's first quarter — up more than 1.6 million cases, or roughly 17%, from the same point a year earlier, according to an American Immigration Council analysis. USCIS completed just 1.8 million cases that quarter — a 41% drop from a year prior — even as average processing times nearly doubled to 18.6 months.

No hearing date for Calderón's case had been publicly reported as of Saturday. His family says they are continuing to press his pending applications through legal channels while he remains in custody — a case immigration advocates point to as emblematic of a system straining under record caseloads even as enforcement arrests continue nationwide.