Tempe mother, son return home after their release from ICE facility in Texas

A Tempe mother and son are back home three weeks after they were taken to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton announced Wednesday.

Margoth Del Pilar Paredes-Ortiz and Dilan Maney Paredes were released from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in south Texas under the Flores Settlement Agreement, according to the Arizona Republic.

The Flores Settlement is a 1997 legal agreement that protects minors from prolonged detention.

Stanton said Paredes-Ortiz and her son, now 14, fled Ecuador after they were held at gunpoint while she was at work. They sought asylum after arriving in the United States in 2023.

They can remain in Arizona while their case is before the Board of Immigration Appeals, Stanton said.

“Tempe is Margoth and Dilan’s home. Their detention reflects the outrageous, misguided priorities under Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” Stanton said in a press release.

The Democratic congressman has been pushing for their release since they were detained near Cecil Shamley School on May 26.

Tempe teen detained before eighth grade promotion ceremony

Dilan had been scheduled to participate in the Shamley School’s eighth grade promotion ceremony two days after he was detained. Citing safety concerns related to the detention, the school wound up holding the ceremony without parents in attendance.

An investigation by ProPublica revealed that many children and teens who are held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center experience depression, isolation and uncertainty about the future.

“Thank you to Congressman Joaquin Castro for assisting my office in this case, and for his continued leadership in the fight to shut down the inhumane Dilley facility,” Stanton said.

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