Paulo Sosa Garcia and Ramona Cecilia Silva were on their way to work in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, on Monday morning when federal immigration agents pulled them over and arrested them. By the next morning, they had been transferred to a detention centre in El Paso, Texas. The couple, who came to the US from Mexico in 1999, had been in the process of obtaining legal residency and were told just five days before their arrest that their case had been approved to move forward.
Their eldest daughter, Cecilia Sosa, described the situation as a “living nightmare”. The couple had recently started a cleaning business and were supporting their three daughters, including a 19-year-old in college, and caring for Cecilia’s grandfather, who had just had a brain tumour removed. The family has had minimal contact with the parents since 12 January, and are now fundraising for legal fees.
In another case, Tomas Martinez Gregorio was arrested on New Year’s Eve while driving his wife, Daisy Martinez, and their six-year-old son, Jayren, to hospital for a tonsillectomy. Jayren never had the operation. Martinez, a US citizen, said she had not applied to adjust Gregorio’s immigration status for fear of drawing attention. Three cars of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cornered their vehicle.
Martinez said her son asks daily about his stepfather. “It just breaks my heart to hear a six-year-old say that they don’t want to wake up,” she said. Gregorio is undocumented and from Mexico.
About 3,000 federal agents have been deployed to Minnesota in what the Trump administration called its largest enforcement operation to date. More than 2,400 people have been arrested in recent weeks, many swiftly moved to out-of-state detention centres or removed from the country. Local leaders and lawyers report that some of those arrested hold valid visas or legal refugee status, which the administration has said it will “re-examine”.
Arrests have occurred in neighbourhoods, at homes, workplaces, shops, restaurants, and outside schools and places of worship. Families like the Sosas and the Martinezes are left struggling to cope with the sudden loss of loved ones.
