PHOENIX, Ariz. — On Feb. 2, 2026, Rep. Lydia Hernandez, D-Glendale, was dropping her grandson off at school when she witnessed what she described as a deeply disturbing incident in the school drop-off zone outside the Boys & Girls Club in Maryvale, directly across the street from the YMCA.
The incident involved three unmarked vehicles unexpectedly arriving at the site and a woman standing outside one unmarked, dark-tinted SUV, “frantically yelling through the window.”
Hernandez initially believed she was witnessing a domestic violence situation and approached the scene to help. She saw the woman stand in front of the vehicle, blocking it from moving, before the woman cried out that her father and her husband had just been taken.
Since President Donald Trump took office in 2025, the American Immigration Council reports that $45 billion has been allocated for ICE detention, during which “the number of people held in ICE detention on any given day increased by 75% in one year.”
According to Tucson Sentinel News, the sharp rise in ICE detentions includes “a doubling over time of the percentage without criminal records, meaning neither convictions nor charges.” Recent data show that the share of people detained without any criminal record has increased to 43%.
The incident Hernandez witnessed occurred in broad daylight, a setting where, she said, “children and families began their day absorbing fear, confusion, and trauma in a space that should be safe.”
NeoToday reports that the increase in ICE detentions has had significant effects on children, with educators describing “plummeting attendance” and “emotional withdrawal” among students, as well as “families disappearing overnight.” While “the fear may seem abstract” outside immigrant communities, for “students and their families, it’s overwhelmingly real,” NeoToday reports.
A Wisconsin educator told NeoToday that “[kids] are coming to school with red eyes as they are coming home to overly stressed parents and not getting enough sleep.”
Hernandez, a state representative and school board member, said she “works every day to ensure decisions are fair, balanced, and rooted in the well-being of our communities.” According to the BillTrack website, she has introduced legislation to improve safety in Arizona’s public schools and sponsored bills addressing health care, social issues and election integrity.
“Arizona’s working families are the backbone of our economy,” Hernandez said.
A study by Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy found that by 2030, “prime working-age Arizonans could number approximately 4.1 million” due to growth in the Sun Corridor, which includes Hernandez’s Glendale district, and the megapolitan region stretching from Nogales to Yavapai County, accounting for nearly 90% of the state’s population and economic activity.
The Scholars Strategy Network reports that federal policies directly affect state policies and residents, noting that as changes occur at the federal level, “their effects ripple across cities and local institutions.”
Under White House priorities, the Trump administration has focused on “leading the world in AI, growing the economy, strengthening national security, reforming government, making America healthy again, and securing the border.”
Hernandez said the focus should instead remain on what truly strengthens Arizona: “good jobs, strong public education, accessible health care, and affordable housing.” She said enforcement actions should never place children in harm’s way or traumatize them on their way to school.
Arizona’s priority, Hernandez said, should be to thrive, and in her view, that only happens “when families thrive.”
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