Federal agents broke down a Delaware woman's door, injured her children, detained her for weeks and threatened to send her back to her native country in Central America to which her abusive ex-husband had already been deported, a report claimed Monday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested the woman, identified only as Isabela, in March at her home in front of her two children and didn't even ask about her immigration status before taking her away in handcuffs, reported Spotlight Delaware.
"Isabela was living in Delaware under the legal protection of 'deferred action' as part of the lengthy U visa process, which helps victims of crime who assist law enforcement in catching criminals," the outlet reported. "Other U visa holders across the country, who have temporary legal status, have also been detained and deported as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown."
The woman had helped police locate and prosecute her ex-husband after he stabbed her in 2019, and as she was flown by the U.S. government to a detention facility in Louisiana, she feared her abuser would be waiting for her if she was deported.
“It’s not something good that’s waiting for me,” Isabela said.
ICE refused to recognize the temporary U visa status Isabela had been granted after filing a police report against her ex-husband, and the agency refused to comment on the case after her release without placing her in potential new legal jeopardy.
"When reached for comment, ICE asked Spotlight Delaware to disclose Isabela’s identity before commenting," the outlet reported. "To protect Isabela’s anonymity, the newsroom declined. The agency did not respond further to requests for comment on Isabela’s story."
Isabela's son was injured by a doorknob when ICE agents broke down a door and pointed guns at the family. They refused to show an arrest warrant or allow her to call relatives or her attorney, according to the report.
"Given the nature of her U visa case, her arrest information didn’t appear on ICE’s online detainee locator system, leaving her location unknown at the time," the Spotlight reported. "One of Isabela’s relatives notified [Emily] Houde, Isabela’s [immigration] attorney, that she had been arrested and Houde got to work."
Houde went to ICE's office in Dover, but no one there had knowledge of her case and sent the attorney to another office in Salisbury, Maryland, where officials told her that Isabela did not wish to speak with her, which the woman later denied. They then sent her to an office in Baltimore.
"Isabela was finally able to call Houde in Baltimore and wrote down Houde’s direct number," the Spotlight reported. "Without the family member’s immediate tip, Houde would never have been able to figure out where Isabela had gone. And without the written number, Isabela would never have been able to tell Houde that she’d been transferred to a Louisiana detention center."
Rumors about her possible deportation had traveled back to Isabela's native country, and family members told her that her ex-husband had made threatening comments about her possible return.
“He didn’t like what happened here, what they did to him, and I was going to get payback for that,” Isabela said.
A legal advocacy group notified Delaware's attorney general about her case, saying it would set a dangerous example for victims of crime in the state, and Chief Deputy Attorney General Dan Logan got involved.
“The plan was to send her right back to where her attacker would potentially be waiting,” Logan said.
The attorney general's office feared that deporting Isabela would undermine the criminal justice system, so Logan said the state "went all in" to get her out of ICE custody, after about a month in detention, agents dumped her off with no documentation, phone, or money at a motel in Monroe, Louisiana, where an official from the attorney general's office picked her up.
“You’re safe,” said Maria Mesias-Tatnall, director of outreach services for immigration assistance for the attorney general's office. “We got you.