Some Good News: Mom and Son Come Back to Tempe After Being in ICE Detention for Three Weeks

It is always nice to report good news in these dark times.

After being detained in an ICE facility in Texas, Tempe Residents Margot Paredes Ortiz and her 14-year-old son, Dilan were released and allowed to return to their home in Arizona.

This release is partially a credit to the intervention of local community leaders and activists like Arizona Representative Greg Stanton.

The detention of Ms. Ortiz and her son aroused great protests in Tempe because the 14 year old was taken a day after his birthday and two days before his promotion from Middle School.

With the help of Representative Stanton and leaders from the Tempe Elementary District, a special ceremony was arranged at the Desert Palm United Church of Christ to give Dilan the promotion he missed out on last month.

On the occassion, Representative Stanton posted:

Today we honored Dilan Paredes with an uplifting 8th grade promotion ceremony. His first was taken from him after ICE detained him the day before his classmates got recognized.

I was proud to host this ceremony with his friends, family, and the Tempe community cheering him on.… pic.twitter.com/1Gd48Pozhj

— Rep. Greg Stanton (@RepGregStanton) June 23, 2026

When he learned on June 17 that Dilan and his mother had been released, Representative Stanton wrote:

“Dilan and Margoth are finally home in Tempe. The outpouring of community support made a real difference as we fought for their release from detention.

What happened here is wrong. Dilan should have been celebrating his 8th-grade promotion with his classmates. Instead, he spent 20 days in ICE detention. Trump’s mass deportation policies aren’t making anyone safer; they’re just ripping our communities apart.”

While this story with Dilan and his mother appears, for now, to have a happy ending, readers should not forget that, according to The Marshall Project, about 6200 children have been detained by ICE since Mr. Trump returned to power. That is ten times more than during the Biden/Harris Administration.

There is no way all of these 6200 children are violent criminals and the worst of the worst.

People need to continue to speak out against these White Nationalist, Anti-Immigrant, and cruel policies of the KKK endorsed candidate and his private prison donors, who are profiting from the human misery they are imposing on these innocent people.