A Columbia Heights girl and mother leave an ICE detention center

In early January, 11-year-old Elizabeth Zona Caisaguano was on her way to her elementary school in Columbia Heights with her mother when ICE agents arrested them and took them to the Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas.

She was the first child in the area to be detained during the Twin Cities immigration crackdown. A month later, she is still there with her mother. Officials called on Tuesday for Elizabeth’s release, but the family’s attorney says an alarming measles outbreak in central Texas makes the task more difficult.

Tracy Cheung, a social worker at Highland Elementary School in Columbia Heights, recounted the chaotic day when Elizabeth and her mother were detained on their way to school. Elizabeth’s father rushed to the school to help find his daughter.

“Elizabeth was able to call her father and an ICE agent said they would bring her to school. Several staff members, including myself, waited outside the school building for a car to approach and drop her off. No one ever came,” Xiong said during a news conference that included Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Xiong spent hours making calls trying to locate Elizabeth and her mother. But by that afternoon, they learned that Elizabeth had been flown to Texas, a practice that lawyers say is Designed to move detainees out of the reach of lawyers.

“In my profession, I have seen many people break down, but the image of Elizabeth’s father will remain in my mind forever,” Xiong said. “I saw him sitting in his car, burying his head in his hands and crying uncontrollably. Those are the images that you will never forget.”

Hours after Xiong spoke about them at Walz’s press conference, Elizabeth and her mother were released on Tuesday night. An attorney working with the family says they plan to stay in Texas overnight before moving to a new location.

Three more children from the Columbia Heights School District remain in Texas custody after being taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“They are very unhappy there.”

The detention center is the same place 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken into custody And where four other Columbia Heights students arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks are being held.

“They’re very unhappy there,” said Bobby Painter, managing attorney for the Texas Immigration Law Center, an organization helping handle the case for Elizabeth and her mother.

The facility, which Painter said has the capacity to hold about 2,400 detainees, is currently dealing with a measles outbreak.

“Medical care is pretty much substandard in every detention center I’ve ever worked in,” Painter said. “A lot of times they’re told, ‘Just take the ibuprofen, don’t worry about it.’ And for a measles outbreak, this kind of thing is very common.

“Unfortunately, when you have a lot of people in a small space, everyone is crammed together. And, you know, they’re from all over the world. The vaccination status varies and you can spread (diseases) very quickly,” he added.

Painter believes the disease has the potential to delay the release of people with deportation orders who may be able to participate in court proceedings.

“For example, restrictions on movement and the ability to bring an isolated person into court can slow everything down dramatically if you are prepared for a hearing in your asylum case and cannot be transported to see a judge,” Painter said. “You could see your case being reset a month or so down the road, just needing more time and detention.”

Children fear deportation

Painter said the family currently has an open asylum case and should not be detained.

“These are people who are going through this process. This family had an immigration attorney who was representing them in their active asylum case. They had no criminal history. They had not committed any crimes that would make them deportable or newly detained,” Painter said earlier in the day.

“They were living their lives going through this process the way it was meant to go through,” he said. I think it’s really important for people to understand that we’re not just detaining criminals or not doing a good job, as the Trump administration would have you believe. It is working families enrolled in schools who work through our immigration system in the permitted manner.

Cheung said much of her work during the two-month migration campaign involved coordinating food deliveries for those afraid to leave their homes and organizing transportation for children to and from school.

She said teachers and school staff are committed to keeping children safe but acknowledged they are overwhelmed.

“Students used to be absent because they were sick,” she said. “Now they are absent because they fear deportation.” “Students have been asking me for help dealing with friendships. Now they’re asking me how to deal with ICE breaking up their families and taking their friends.”