TUCSON, Ariz. — After Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a Venezuelan refugee family legally residing in the United States, an Arizona state lawmaker issued a press statement calling for accountability and humanity from ICE agents, warning that the actions are spreading fear throughout the Tucson community. Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democratic state representative, said residents are fearful of “detention, deportation, and criminalization simply for existing.”
In a press release dated Jan. 23, 2026, Hernandez said ICE “conducted enforcement actions across the street from my home.” Those actions were carried out “in front of an elementary school while children were playing outside,” she said.
According to Hernandez, ICE detained three of four family members during what agents described as a routine operation outside the elementary school in South Tucson. The family is in the asylum process after recently traveling from Venezuela and was en route to a doctor’s appointment, she said. They had proper documentation demonstrating the legality of their stay in the United States, and the husband and driver had been granted asylum. Hernandez said ICE was aware of these facts but still detained four of the five family members.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Sept. 3, 2025, that the department terminated Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela. In a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statement, USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said, “It’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest.”
“The Trump administration has slashed TPS for nearly 1 million people and ended humanitarian parole for half a million more,” the Tucson Sentinel reported. In March 2025, the Trump administration deported 240 Venezuelans to El Salvador without due process, sending them to the CECOT prison. Hernandez said this disregard for humanity and due process is affecting not only the safety of immigrants and refugees in the United States but also public trust in government.
Hernandez argued in her press release that ICE’s actions “demonstrate a blatant disregard for public safety.” She said the presence of “masked agents” operating without accountability or transparency is undermining public trust while doing nothing to make communities safer.
Hernandez said she stands in “full solidarity with our Tucson community, particularly our immigrant neighbors who are being targeted, profiled, and dehumanized.” She argued that legally documented families are being taken without explanation rather than the dangerous criminals officials claim to be targeting. Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse show that as of Nov. 30, 2025, 73.6% of the 65,735 people held in ICE detention centers had no criminal convictions.
She concluded her press release by saying her community “will not be complicit in systems that dehumanize our residents and erode public trust. We deserve safety rooted in dignity, accountability, and humanity, not fear.”
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