A 6-year-old Ecuadorian girl, along with her mother and 19-year-old brother, was arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during their routine check-in at the Federal Plaza #26 Immigration Court in Manhattan last week. This incident has once again sparked public attention towards immigration policies. As of the deadline for this report, an immigration organization stated that the mother and daughter were deported back to their home country on Tuesday, August 19th.
According to the immigrant advocacy group Mi Tlalli, the arrest took place on August 12th. The girl, Dayra, her mother, Martha, and her brother, Manuel, were originally there for a routine check-in but were unexpectedly detained by ICE and taken to different detention facilities.
This family had entered the U.S. illegally in December 2022 and had received a final deportation order by an immigration judge. Following the arrest, Martha and her daughter were taken to the family detention center in Dilley, Texas, while Manuel was sent to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Dayra was a student at PS 89 in Queens, also known as the Jose Peralta School of Dreamers. Mariposa Benitez, the founder of Mi Tlalli, mentioned that this family came to the U.S. escaping violence in Ecuador, and this arrest has caused further trauma to a family seeking asylum in the United States.
On Tuesday evening, Mi Tlalli posted on their Instagram account that they had directly contacted Dayra’s family, and the mother and daughter were deported back to Ecuador that morning.
“We demand accountability from all institutions that stood by or failed to act promptly to prevent this from happening,” the organization’s post read. “ICE has committed acts of cruelty and violence. We will continue steadfastly advocating for the release of Manuel who remains detained at Delaney Hall; we will continue to fight for our community and stop family separations.”
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to the media, stating that this family were considered “illegal immigrants” and needed to follow the deportation order.
In January of this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lifted restrictions prohibiting ICE enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as courthouses, putting many immigrant families at risk of arrest while attending school, seeking medical treatment, or handling legal matters.
After the arrest of the girl, New York City Mayor Adams and the city’s Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant announced on the 18th that the city had filed an amicus brief in federal court supporting the arrested immigrant plaintiffs, challenging the federal government’s policy of arresting immigrants in court.
Adams stated, “New Yorkers should be able to participate in legal processes with peace of mind to pursue legal status. No one should be afraid to send their children to school, go to the hospital, call 911, or appear in court out of fear of arrest.”
According to media reports and public documents from the city government, there have been at least four cases of ICE arrests involving public school students since the beginning of 2025.
The city’s amicus brief points out that the arrests at Federal Plaza #26 and surrounding courts in Manhattan have deterred law-abiding immigrants from appearing in court or using essential services, leading to a climate of fear that drives residents underground, weakening the justice system. New York City has over 3 million immigrants, accounting for nearly 40% of the population. If trust in the system is lost, it will have a severe impact on society.
The immigrant plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration’s policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act because they arbitrarily repealed past restrictions on civil immigration arrests, depriving non-citizens of due process protections. New York City’s amicus brief supports the plaintiffs’ request for the court to immediately halt these policies.