Latest news with #OnlineDetaineeLocatorSystem
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pomona Congresswoman blasts ICE over denied access, gas deployment
Rep. Norma Torres of Pomona is demanding a federal investigation into actions taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a June 7 oversight visit to the Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A., alleging unlawful obstruction of access and the use of chemical agents on a peaceful congressional delegation. In a formal letter sent to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, the Southern California Democrat said ICE falsely claimed more than 1,000 protesters were present that day – an assertion Torres says was used to justify deploying chemical agents that caused her to seek emergency medical treatment and begin respiratory medication. According to Torres, the delegation included four members of Congress, along with legal counsel, staff, immigrant rights advocates and members of the media. Federal law prohibits ICE from denying access to members of Congress and specifically guarantees congressional entry into detention facilities. Torres says ICE's actions represent 'a direct violation of the law and a breach of transparency and accountability.' 'This false characterization appears designed to justify the dangerous and unjustified deployment of chemical agents,' Torres wrote. 'These actions have not only endangered lives but have broken the public's trust and violated the law.' Torres further criticized ICE for a failure to maintain accurate and timely updates to its Online Detainee Locator System, which she said has left families in the dark and scrambling to locate detained loved ones — sometimes resorting to missing persons reports or hospital visits. In her letter, Torres demanded a full investigation into the events of June 7, including identification of personnel responsible for the use of force, legal justification for the denial of entry, and a review of detainee communication systems. The Roybal Federal Building has become a flashpoint during recent immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles, drawing protests and national scrutiny. ICE has not yet publicly responded to Torres' letter or accusations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
ICE moves mother taken in chaotic Worcester arrest across state lines
The Brazilian mother arrested last month on Eureka Street in Worcester by federal immigration officials is now in a New Hampshire corrections facility, according to her attorney. Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, a 40-year-old mother of three who was apprehended and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on May 8, was moved from the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to New Hampshire, attorney Paul Toland told MassLive on Thursday. A search for Ferreira-De Oliveira's name on ICE's Online Detainee Locator System (ODLS) confirms she is currently detained at the Strafford County Corrections facility in Dover, New Hampshire. The transfer took place on Tuesday and ICE did not provide a notice or a reason for the change in location, according to Toland. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Federal immigration officials claim Ferreira-De Oliveira entered the country illegally in August 2022, which led to ICE taking her into custody. Toland, however, maintains the mother of three was paroled and allowed into the country by ICE as she pursued asylum. Ferreira-De Oliveira's asylum case will be presented before a judge during an individual hearing scheduled for Sept. 23, according to Toland. While Ferreira-De Oliveira was previously detained at the Wyatt Detention Center, Toland claimed she was moved to different cells in the facility and did not receive pain medication for her shoulder, which, he claimed, was injured by ICE agents when they detained her. 'Wyatt Detention is a very depressing detention center,' Toland said. 'With barbed wire everywhere. She's not even getting pain medication in there for her pain.' A previous statement from a senior Department of Homeland Security official disputes Toland's accusations. 'ICE has provided Ferreira with prompt medical care and services, and she has not filed any grievances or complaints regarding delayed medical care,' the senior official wrote May 23. 'ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously. On the morning of May 8, Eureka Street in Worcester erupted into mayhem as ICE agents apprehended and arrested Ferreira-De Oliveira. The 40-year-old woman was arrested in front of two of her children — a 17-year-old girl and 21-year-old Augusta Clara Moura, who was holding her 3-month-old son in her arms at the time. Read more: Worcester father of 4-month-old deported after ICE 'violated his rights,' attorney says More than 30 people approached the agents on the street and shouted at them, demanding they show a warrant for the arrest. After 11 a.m., members of the Worcester Police Department arrived on Eureka Street following 911 calls that were made by ICE agents requesting police assistance and other calls from people at the scene. Body camera footage worn by Worcester Officer Patrick Hanlon, released by the Worcester Police Department on May 16, recorded the ICE agents as they arrested Ferreira-De Oliveira. In the footage, Worcester District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj can be seen walking toward the officers and Ferreira-De Oliveira. The footage shows her grabbing Ferreira-De Oliveira's arm and pleading with the agents not to take the woman. Two of the ICE agents flung the councilor off Ferreira-De Oliveira. As the agents moved to a gold Ford SUV, Haxhiaj reached out for Ferreira-De Oliveira. Hanlon grabbed her hands to pull her back and told her to stop. 'I cannot stop!' Haxhiaj yelled at the officer. Clara Moura, who can be seen being held back by disqualified School Committee candidate Ashley Spring, reached out to the vehicle and said no multiple times. Hanlon responded by saying ICE would explain. Haxhiaj and Spring yelled that the agents wouldn't explain, with Spring telling Hanlon that ICE didn't 'not have a judicial warrant.' At around 2 minutes and 25 seconds into the footage, an ICE officer said, 'We do not need a judicial warrant for this arrest.' Body camera footage worn by Officer Juan Vallejo showed Ferreira-De Oliveira's teenage daughter running up to the side of the SUV's front passenger door. Police later claimed she tried to kick the door, but it is difficult to confirm this due to the shaky footage and the large police presence. Vallejo and other officers surrounded the girl and moved her to the ground on the street. During the arrest, an officer yelled, 'You're under arrest for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.' The daughter was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to police. Following her arrest, she was released from custody to be with family friends along with Clara Moura, the baby and another daughter of Ferreira-De Oliveira, who is a minor. On May 16, Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier announced the department requested a court to dismiss the case against the daughter. Saucier said in a statement that 'it is important to emphasize that assaulting or interfering with law enforcement officers as they carry out their duties is never acceptable.' Ashley Spring was also arrested on Eureka Street after they sprayed water in an officer's face. The Worcester Police Department wrote in a report that officers saw Spring directly pointing and spraying an 'unknown liquid in a bottle at officers'—even though Spring and an officer both say on video that the liquid was water. Spring was charged on May 9 with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — the 'unknown liquid' — along with charges of assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct and interfering with police officers. Lt. Sean Murtha previously told MassLive that he was not aware of the department dropping any of Spring's charges. On June 4, District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj was charged with two crimes for her actions on Eureka Street. The councilor was charged with a misdemeanor count of assault and battery on a police officer and a common law violation of interfering with a police officer, records show. The criminal complaint filings accuse Haxhiaj of pushing an officer in the chest and pulling the officer's arm as they were making an arrest. Haxhiaj responded to the charges on BlueSky, calling the prosecution frustrating and defending her actions. 'I am a mother, an immigrant and elected leader who attempted, along with other Worcester residents, to protect a traumatized young person, two mothers and an infant,' Haxhiaj said. 'I did the humane thing to do in this situation, nothing more, nothing less.' On May 16, eight days after the arrest, City Manager Eric D. Batista's administration released body camera footage of officers who were at Eureka Street. The City Manager also announced an executive order on how the Worcester Police Department responds to federal arrests. 'Enforcement of immigration laws is within the jurisdiction of the federal government, not the municipality and as such, municipal resources shall not be used toward that end,' according to a city statement.'The municipality and the WPD are committed to promoting safety in the community regardless of immigration status.' Protests against ICE and the Worcester Police Department have taken place in the wake of the arrest on Eureka Street. On May 13, a protest took place outside of City Hall, which was locked from the inside. Protesters accused the Worcester Police Department of assisting with ICE and demanded that federal immigration officials leave Worcester. Members of the crowd originally planned to speak out against ICE and the Worcester Police Department during the May 13 city council meeting at City Hall but the meeting was changed from an in-person format to a virtual format the day before. Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty said city officials received 'threats of violence" and that the move to a virtual format was done to ensure people's safety. Nevertheless, people still attended the virtual meeting—lashing out against the council, the Worcester Police Department and Batista's administration. 'There are two explanations for this,' said Marcus Palumbo of Clark University at the meeting. 'Either you, the council, have completely lost control over the police department, or you are actively complicit in their actions.' On June 10, an in-person city council meeting was shut down by anti-ICE protesters. During the meeting's public comment period, the protesters marched into the city council chambers—holding up signs and chanting 'ICE out of Worcester now." Read more: Shadow of ICE arrest hangs over Worcester 'State of the City' speech A person was arrested in connection with the canceled meeting, City Manager Eric Batista announced Wednesday night. 'The municipality has a longstanding policy regarding the use of City Hall, which precludes protests, rallies, and demonstrations from taking place inside the building," Batista said in a statement. 'While this policy has not previously been widely distributed, we are making it publicly available and notifying the public that it will be strictly enforced. Any person found in non-compliance with the policy is subject to ejection and subject to arrest or other violations.' Even though he shares the public's frustrations about 'what is happening at the national level ... we cannot allow that to divide us,' Batista said in his statement. 'Instead, we must find real ways to collectively support one another and those impacted while continuing to focus on the core services that municipal government is responsible for.' None of the items on the city council's meeting agenda for that night were discussed. 'Unfortunately, we were unable to do the people's business tonight — we had over 40 items on the agenda, and there were people in the audience who wished to speak on items that were important to them, but could not,' Mayor Joseph Petty said in a previous statement. 3 Mass. men indicted in connection with Worcester mother, son's shooting deaths 'No Kings' protests: What to know about Saturday's Mass., nationwide demonstrations 1 person arrested during Worcester council meeting halted by anti-ICE protesters Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What to know about Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, Cuban activist who might be deported
In June 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that the Cuban-born "Latinos for Trump" leader and activist Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho was arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and was awaiting deportation. Womp inPoliticalHumor A Reddit post included an image that read: "'Latinos for Trump' leader Hector Luis Valdes Cocho, a Cuban activist who rallied others to vote for Trump, was picked up by ICE and is in a detention center waiting to be deported." The claim also appeared on Facebook (archived), X (archived), Threads (archived), Instagram (archived), Bluesky (archived) and TikTok (archived) dating to February (archived) 2025 (archived). Snopes readers messaged us about claims surrounding the arrest of Valdés starting in February. According to the ICE's Online Detainee Locator System, a Hector Luis Valdes-Cocho born in Cuba was in ICE custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center in California at the time of this writing. Snopes was unable to view the details of Valdés' immigration case without his alien registration number (also known as an A-Number), which is not generally publicly available information. Therefore, it was not possible to confirm whether Valdés was facing deportation at the time of this writing. ICE detains people for reasons including "to ensure their presence for immigration proceedings, to facilitate removals to their countries of citizenship, and to protect public safety." Furthermore, though popular online claims said Valdés was a leader in the Latinos for Trump campaign movement, we found no credible reports linking him to this particular group (archived, archived, archived, archived). Valdés' Facebook and Instagram accounts were inactive at the time of this writing, so they could not provide additional information about his political activities. We reached out to ICE for any information it could provide about the status of Valdés' immigration case and potential deportation. We also reached out to the former co-chairs of Latinos for Trump, Jeanette M. Nuñez and Margarita Paláu-Hernández, to ask if they could confirm or deny Valdés' involvement with the group. We await replies to our queries. ICE's locator system did not include a picture of the Hector Luis Valdes-Cocho the agency detained. CiberCuba, an online newspaper founded by Cuban expatriates, said that the person detained by ICE in California (and previously Florida) was the same person who featured in the claims in this article. When asked about the authenticity of a mug shot (archived) showing Valdés during an arrest in November 2024, a spokesperson for Orange County, Florida, jail told Snopes they were prohibited under federal law from disclosing or otherwise permitting to be made public "the name or other information relating to ICE inmates," further indicating that the Valdés arrested in November 2024 was the same person detained by ICE at the time of this writing. Valdés was a journalist and anti-government activist in Cuba before he was forced into exile in January 2022. It was unclear when and how he arrived in the U.S. In April 2024, Partido del Pueblo, a self-described right-wing political party founded to counter the Communist Party of Cuba, posted (archived) a picture on Instagram of Valdés holding a Trump 2024 banner and said it was taken in Michigan. It was also unclear at the time of this writing exactly how Valdés ended up in ICE detention. In November 2024, CiberCuba reported that Valdés was arrested by Orange County sheriff's deputies in Florida. The report referenced a mug shot of Valdés from a Facebook page that reposts mug shots from Orange County. CiberCuba's report said the arrest was for failure to appear in a traffic violation case. A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said it carried out the arrest on an out-of-county warrant. We contacted the Osceola County Sheriff's Office on the Orange County department's recommendation to ask what the warrant was for. At the time of his arrest, multiple Cuban journalists and activists accused Valdés of failing to repay loans, according to CiberCuba. It was unclear whether any of the accusations led to criminal charges or, in turn, to ICE detention. Then, in February 2025, CiberCuba reported that it found Valdés on ICE's online detainee locator detained in Florida. It was unclear when ICE moved Valdés to California, where the locator said he was detained at the time of this writing. News of Valdés' ICE detention came as the Trump administration paused and aimed to terminate a number of humanitarian parole programs, including one for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In May 2025, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to pause the program, and with it the short-term lawful status granted to citizens of the named countries under the program, making them deportable. It was unclear whether Valdés gained lawful status in the U.S. under the CHNV program and whether he was affected by the Trump administration's pause. The program grants short-term lawful status to successful applicants, usually around two years, which would have expired by 2025. "Amnesty International Names Prisoners of Conscience in Cuba." Amnesty International, 19 Aug. 2021, "CPJ Welcomes El Salvador's Acceptance of 2 Journalists Expelled from Cuba." Committee to Protect Journalists, 6 Jan. 2022, "Cuba." United States Department of State, Accessed 11 June 2025. "Cuban Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho Is in ICE Custody in Florida." CiberCuba, 1 Feb. 2025, Derby, Kevin. "Mike Pence, Jeanette Nuñez Launch Latinos for Trump." Florida Daily, 25 June 2019, Detain | ICE. 17 Aug. 2020, Echavarri, Fernanda. "Latinos for Trump Co-Chair Boasts of a Country That 'Has Opened Doors.'" Mother Jones, Accessed 11 June 2025. "El Partido Del Pueblo ." Facebook, "Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho" and "Latinos for Trump" - Google Search. Accessed 11 June 2025. "Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho" and "Latinos for Trump" - Search News. Accessed 11 June 2025. "Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho" and "Latinos for Trump" - Yahoo Search Results. Accessed 11 June 2025. "Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho" and "Latinos for Trump" at DuckDuckGo. Accessed 11 June 2025. "Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho Arrested in the U.S. amid Scandal over Scams." CiberCuba, 22 Nov. 2024, Litigation-Related Update: Supreme Court Stay of CHNV Preliminary Injunction | USCIS. 6 June 2025, Online Detainee Locator System. Accessed 11 June 2025. Orange County Mugshots. "VALDESCOCHO, HECTOR LUIS." Facebook, 20 Nov. 2025, @pdpcuba. "Nuestro Consejero de Seguridad Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho Desde Michigan." Instagram, 24 Apr. 2022, Schmidt, Samantha. "Cuba's Internet Comes Back on — and Reveals Scenes of a Crackdown." The Washington Post, 14 June 2021, "Securing Our Borders." The White House, 21 Jan. 2025, Totenberg, Nina. "Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to End Humanitarian Status for Some Migrants." NPR, 30 May 2025. NPR,
USA Today
04-06-2025
- General
- USA Today
Families scramble to find loved ones – and answers – after massive ICE raid in Florida
Families scramble to find loved ones – and answers – after massive ICE raid in Florida Family members, friends of detained immigrants in Florida say they have had trouble locating them in ICE facilities, county jails. Show Caption Hide Caption Tallahassee, Florida, ICE crackdown: Inside bus filled with detainees A detainee, Juan Carlos Hernandez, took a video of inside the bus, where he and his coworkers were handcuffed. He sent it to a reporter outside. What we know: Over 100 construction workers were detained in a Tallahassee, Florida immigration raid. Detainees were sent to various locations, including Florida's Baker County, Miami, and Texas, with some already deported to Mexico. The whereabouts of some detainees remain unknown, causing distress for families and friends. TALLAHASSEE, Florida ‒ Family members and friends of the more than 100 construction workers detained in what was deemed Florida's largest immigration raid this year say they are having trouble locating their loved ones. Some of the laborers were sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Baker County, while some went to Miami's Krome Detention Center. Others were quickly flown to El Paso, Texas, and were still there awaiting removal as of June 3. And some are already in Mexico, just five days after being detained and bused away from their job site in Tallahassee, the state's capital. But others are still silent, and their friends and family are worried and waiting for a call to know where they are – and if they're safe. Questions about where the detainees were headed and in which detention facilities they would be held have been pending with federal authorities since May 29. Questions about how often detainees are transferred are also pending. Many of the county detention facilities across the state are already at capacity, according to state records. "There's no apparent rhyme or reason to where people are sent," Florida-based immigration attorney Elizabeth Ricci said. Her firm, Rambana & Ricci, is representing clients who were detained in the raid at a construction site of a seven-story mixed-use development called Perla at the Enclave. Texas seen as better to send detainees to Immigration lawyers say detainees are often sent to Texas because judges there are tougher and it's closer to the U.S.-Mexico border, making it easier for removal and harder for lawyers and families to track them down to block that removal. Some of the laborers were on their way to Texas as soon as the day after the raid, but not everyone could find friends and family, as ICE's Online Detainee Locator System has been unreliable in recent months, according to Ricci. "It's very possible that we are on the (telephone) waiting to have a bond hearing that was scheduled, and unbeknownst to us, the person has been sent to another facility," Ricci said. If a detainee is sent to another court jurisdiction, the attorney has to file the client's paperwork in that district all over again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders have criticized federal judges who have ruled against President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. They describe it as 'lawfare,' referring to the use (or misuse) of legal systems to attack, discredit, or obstruct an opponent. They've publicly denounced one Florida judge, who ruled one of the state's latest immigration laws unconstitutional, saying she ruled beyond her jurisdiction. Florida's reputation as 'toughest' on illegal immigration In the name of being the "toughest" state on immigration, Florida officials also asked the federal government for more leeway to establish its own brick-and-mortar facilities to detain and house more immigrants. Waiving federal standards for detention would allow the state to house more people and for longer, they say, as ICE currently does not have the capability to keep up with the president's and Florida governor's mass deportation mandates. According to the state's immigration enforcement operations plan: 'There is … a major chokepoint in terms of detention. At its current state, ICE is overwhelmed with the number of detainees that have been arrested prior to the state assisting with the process.' Advocates say this has led to some detained immigrants being moved, some up to five times, from ICE detention to county jails, out of state and back in. There were 1,984 open jail beds in county detention facilities at the end of March, according to a report on vacant beds from Larry Keefe, the executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, to Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula. But 27 of the facilities, some of which are the only detention facilities in their counties, have no vacant beds, according to the March 26, report. Mariana Blanco, director of operations of the Guatemalan-Mayan Center in Palm Beach County, has been tracking detentions of people in her community since March. . Blanco said many detainees are held at Krome, recognized as America's oldest immigration detention facility, for weeks and even months. But there is a growing number of detainees who are constantly being transferred from one detention facility to another, making it difficult to alert family or their lawyers, if they have one. 'We have folks who have been detained for months, and we have folks who, within 24 hours, them and their U.S. born-kids were already sent back to their country,' Blanco said. 'There is no way to keep track of the detentions and deportation work." For example, according to Blanco's data, one client was held at Krome, then moved to a Broward County detention facility, and is now at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. Another was held in Stuart, Florida, moved to Louisiana, then brought back to Krome to later be deported. One client has been transferred nine times, Blanco said. The constant transfers have allowed the government to place some immigrants on deportation flights before they could speak with family members or attorneys, she added. Most of her daily calls come from desperate families seeking help to locate their detained family members. Before 8 a.m. many day, Ricci also gets frantic calls from clients who say a family member's hearing has been rescheduled for that day and they just found out, which leaves little time to prepare. "That's all part of this intentional system to make it more difficult for people to have a defense," Ricci said. Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@ Valentina Palm covers immigration in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, a member of the the USA TODAY Network – Florida. Email her at vpalm@
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Immigration raid in Florida capital leaves families searching for loved ones
In the aftermath of what was deemed the largest immigration raid in Florida so far in 2025, family members and friends of the more than 100 construction workers detained say they have had trouble locating their loved ones. Some of the laborers were sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Baker County, while some went to Miami's Krome Detention Center. Others were quickly flown to El Paso, Texas, and were still there awaiting removal as of June 3. And some are already in Mexico, just five days after being detained and bused away from their job site in Tallahassee, Florida. But others are still silent, and their friends and family are worried and waiting for a call to know where they are – and if they're safe. Questions about where the detainees were headed and in which detention facilities they would be held have been pending with federal authorities since May 29. Questions about how often detainees are transferred are also pending. "There's no apparent rhyme or reason to where people are sent," Florida-based immigration attorney Elizabeth Ricci said. Her firm, Rambana & Ricci, is representing clients who were detained in a May 29 ICE raid at a construction site of a seven-story mixed-use development called Perla at the Enclave in Tallahassee, the state capital. It could be geography – a close location that's easy to send detainees to – but many of the county detention facilities in the state are at capacity, according to state records. As for the feds sending people to Texas, immigration lawyers generally say it's because judges there are tougher and it's closer to the U.S.-Mexico border, making it easier for removal and harder for lawyers and families to track people down. Some of the laborers were on their way to Texas as soon as the day after the raid, but not everyone could find friends and family, as ICE's Online Detainee Locator System has been unreliable in recent months, according to Ricci. "It's very possible that we are on the (telephone) waiting to have a bond hearing that was scheduled, and unbeknownst to us, the person has been sent to another facility," Ricci said. If a detainee is sent to another court jurisdiction, the attorney has to file the client's paperwork in that district all over again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders have criticized federal judges who have ruled against President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda, calling it 'lawfare,' referring to the use (or misuse) of legal systems to attack, discredit, or obstruct an opponent. They've publicly denounced one Florida judge, who ruled one of the state's latest immigration laws unconstitutional, saying she ruled beyond her jurisdiction. In the name of being the "toughest" state on immigration, Florida officials also asked the federal government for more leeway to establish its own brick-and-mortar facilities to detain and house more immigrants. Waiving federal standards for detention would allow the state to house more people and for longer, they say, as ICE currently does not have the capability to keep up with the president's and Florida governor's mass deportation mandates. According to the state's immigration enforcement operations plan: 'There is … a major chokepoint in terms of detention. At its current state, ICE is overwhelmed with the number of detainees that have been arrested prior to the state assisting with the process.' Advocates say this has led to some detained immigrants being moved, some up to five times, from ICE detention to county jails, out of state and back in, because of occupancy issues in Florida facilities. There were 1,984 open jail beds in county detention facilities at the end of March, according to a report on vacant beds from Larry Keefe, the executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, to Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula. But 27 of the facilities, some of which are the only detention facilities in their counties, have no vacant beds, according to the March 26, 2025, report. Mariana Blanco, director of operations of the Guatemalan-Mayan Center in Palm Beach County, has been tracking detentions of people in her community since March. Blanco keeps track of their names, country of origin, where they were detained, if they had a criminal record or removal orders, and where they are being held. At least one person fills out the form or calls Blanco to report another detention every day. Blanco said many detainees are held at Krome, recognized as America's oldest immigration detention facility, for weeks and even months. But there is a growing number of detainees who are constantly being transferred from one detention facility to another, making it difficult to alert family or their lawyers, if they have one. 'We have folks who have been detained for months, and we have folks who, within 24 hours, them and their U.S. born-kids were already sent back to their country,' Blanco said. 'There is no way to keep track of the detentions and deportation work." For example, according to Blanco's data, one client was held at Krome, then moved to a Broward County detention facility, and is now at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. Another was held in Stuart, Florida, moved to Louisiana, then brought back to Krome to later be deported. One client has been transferred nine times, Blanco said. The constant transfers have allowed the government to place some immigrants on deportation flights before they could speak with family members or attorneys, Blanco added. Most of her daily calls come from desperate families seeking help to locate their detained family members. Before 8 a.m. many day, Ricci also gets frantic calls from clients who say a family member's hearing has been rescheduled for that day and they just found out, which leaves little time to prepare. "That's all part of this intentional system to make it more difficult for people to have a defense," Ricci said. Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@ Valentina Palm covers immigration in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, a member of the the USA TODAY Network – Florida. Email her at vpalm@ This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: After Tallahassee ICE raid, families struggle to locate loved ones
