A granddad who was the subject of a celebrated reimagining of one of America’s most iconic paintings has been detained by ICE and is facing deportation by the Trump administration.
The father of Chicana artist Criselda Vasquez—whose 2017 canvas “The New American Gothic” reimagined Grant Wood’s instantly recognizable 1930 masterpiece by putting her Mexican-born parents at its center—had lived in the United States for more than four decades.
While the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles added the painting to its permanent collection in 2021, the man’s name has never been revealed.
Now it has emerged that the father of four children who are U.S. citizens was stopped and detained on a California street in late March.
“My father and one of his workers were detained by ICE while simply on their way to work,” Vasquez wrote in an Instagram post on April 3, as reported by Migrant Insider on Sunday.
She described her family as “heartbroken” and her mother as “completely devastated.”
The arrest took place early on the morning of March 31, when federal agents pulled over Vasquez’s father in front of a neighbor’s home and detained him alongside one of his employees.
Vasquez told art publication Hyperallergic that her father had been “racially profiled on his way home from work” before agents pulled him over.
The family has declined to publicly release his name or his precise immigration status, and Migrant Insider said ICE has offered no public explanation for why he was taken into custody.
After the detention, relatives tracked him to a specific facility only by calling around and hunting through online databases, while the household’s primary breadwinner sat behind bars.
Vasquez described her father to Hyperallergic as the “hardest-working, most selfless person” she knows, a devoted husband and grandfather, and “a role model not only to his four children, all of whom are United States citizens, but also to many people he has come across.”
“My father’s hard work, dedication, and sacrifices will never be forgotten and will continue to be a long lifetime inspiration to me and my family,” Vasquez said, adding that her art tries to give visibility to families who “strive to be invisible every day.”
Relatives have set up a GoFundMe to offset legal costs and the income he would normally bring home. At the time of publication, it had raised nearly $75,000 toward an $80,000 goal.
The detention of Vasquez’s father is tinged with irony. Last year, she posted the image on Instagram, saying that under Trump 2.0, it was “as relevant as ever.”
She wrote: “As a first generation Mexican American I’ve witnessed firsthand the hard work, struggles and sacrifices that immigrants endure in this country.
“In the long tradition of immigrants that have come to this country, they come here simply to work, seek security and provide a better future for themselves and their children. There’s always been a large mischaracterization of this community. They are NOT criminals. They are human beings who deserve dignity, respect and human rights!”
The Daily Beast contacted ICE and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for comment. ICE said it was unable to check on the status of a detainee without “their A# and country of citizenship, or full name, date of birth and country of citizenship.”
