Federal and local leaders have spoken out in support of a University of Maryland student after she and her mother were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.
On Thursday, Maria Flores Garcia and her mom, Mirna, were detained and transferred to an ICE facility in Louisiana after arriving at an ICE office in Baltimore for an immigration check-in, according to a statement by Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy.
Garcia graduated as valedictorian from Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County this spring. In her address to the school’s graduating class, she focused on themes of determination and perseverance as she emotionally recalled what it was like to start over as a 9-year-old.
“I was the new girl who struggled to understand words,” Garcia said in her speech. “And had to wait for someone to translate even the simplest instructions. I would spend countless hours translating every homework assignment with the help of my dad.”
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Braveboy said Garcia had been taking classes at the University of Maryland on a full scholarship, and that the news of her detention “outraged” and “deeply concerned” her.
“Maria and her mother should know they are not alone: the people of Prince George’s County stand firmly with them,” Braveboy said in her statement Monday. “We are calling for Maria’s immediate release and safe return home.”
A DHS spokesperson told The Sun in a statement that Garcia entered the country illegally at an “unknown time and place” and later was arrested in Texas in 2016 and placed into removal proceedings before the Obama administration released her.
The spokesperson said Garcia’s mother entered the U.S. illegally twice. First in 2006, after which an immigration judge granted her voluntary departure from the country, and again in 2016. At that time, Garcia’s mother was also placed in removal proceedings before the Obama administration released her, the DHS spokesperson said.
Garcia and her mother were issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in February 2021, the spokesperson said, and will remain in ICE custody pending their removal from the U.S.
Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday that his office had been in contact with Garcia’s boyfriend to help assist with the legal proceedings. Ivey said the main goal right now is to help Garcia and her mother transfer from the Louisiana facility closer to the D.C. area.
He said the situation is “exactly the opposite” of what President Donald Trump promised to do with ICE when he was running for office in 2024.
“He said he was going to go after the worst of the worst, and killers and rapists and gang leaders,” Ivey said during the broadcast. “Here we have the valedictorian of her high school, who got a scholarship to the University of Maryland. She’s apparently on a pre-med track. This is exactly the type of person that we want to support and help them continue moving in the right direction.”
The University of Maryland told The Washington Sun in a statement that the school had been in touch with those close to Garcia and was working to provide resources when possible and appropriate.
“We are working to connect our student’s loved ones with elected officials,” the statement said. “Including members of our Congressional delegation who are offering assistance to their constituents.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep.-elect Adrian Boafo, both Democrats, followed Braveboy with similar social media posts Tuesday, voicing frustration over the situation.
Van Hollen said he would seek answers on Garcia’s detention and would work to get her released, while rebuking Trump’s immigration policies.
“Maria Flores Garcia was her high school’s valedictorian & is a student at UMD,” his X post said. “Her arrest is the latest example of how Trump lied when he said that he’d only go after the ‘worst of the worst.’”
Boafo also addressed Garcia and her mother’s detention in an X post in which he promised to “push for real oversight of ICE so they cannot continue to terrorize our communities and tear apart families.”
“They did everything right,” Boafo said. “They played by the rules and showed up when asked. They should never have been put in this situation.”
To help pay for lawyer fees and support their family, Maria Garcia’s boyfriend, Cesar Saavedra, set up a GoFundMe campaign. It has received more than $35,000 from more than 770 people since it was posted.
“It’s difficult to put into words how frightening it is to have two people you care so deeply about suddenly taken away from their everyday lives, not knowing what tomorrow will bring,” Saavedra said in the fundraiser’s description. “My girlfriend has worked incredibly hard for her future, and right now, she and her mother need our support more than ever.”
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