On May 26, ICE agents detained 14-year-old Dilan Manay Paredes outside of Cecil Shamley School in Tempe, just two days before his eighth-grade promotion ceremony.
That same day, ICE agents allegedly “violently” detained his mother, Margoth Del Pilar Paredes-Ortiz, outside a Walmart in Tempe, where agents allegedly smashed the windows of her car, according to advocates. ICE disputed this account to ABC15, saying agents arrested her after her vehicle failed to yield during a Border Patrol referral involving a suspected smuggling vehicle. Two of Paredes-Ortiz’s older children arrived to help their mother, and were detained by ICE, too, advocates said. ICE confirmed it is holding Paredes and her son but has not publicly confirmed the siblings’ detention.
After arresting his mother, ICE transported her to Cecil Shamley School, where Paredes-Ortiz called the school and asked that her son be released to her. A school administrator escorted Dilan to ICE officers outside the building. According to ICE, agents did not enter the school.
Alan Esquer, a 14-year-old classmate, told the Phoenix New Times that Dilan began crying after his mother dialed him to alert him about the situation, informing him that she and ICE agents were heading to the school to pick him up.
While at the principal’s office, Dilan sent his friend an Instagram message in Spanish: “Just tell them I’m gonna miss you guys. I love you guys a lot. They’re outside. They might send me back to my country.”
Backlash
The incident quickly caused uproar as nearly 40 students and parents gathered to protest Paredes’ detention the next day, demanding their classmate’s immediate release. What was supposed to be a joyous time for the middle schoolers, celebrating their advancement to high school, turned into sorrow.
“Bring Dilan home now,” one sign read.
Bronwyn Sternberg, the school principal, sent parents a letter on May 27, informing them the school would hold the eighth-grade promotion ceremony on May 28 behind closed doors “to ensure safety.” No guests were allowed into the ceremony and the event was recorded and shared with families, instead.
In a statement, ICE called the claims “inaccurate” and “sensationalized,” stating that they did not conduct an operation at the school.
The spokesperson said agents arrested Paredes-Ortiz following a referral from US Border Patrol after her vehicle failed to yield as a suspected alien smuggling load vehicle. The spokesperson added that she was subject to a removal order issued by an immigration judge on March 19, 2025. ICE said Paredes-Ortiz requested her son be returned with her as no other family members were available to take care of him.
“Paredes-Ortiz voluntarily called Cecil Shamley School and requested that her son be released so he could meet her while she was in ICE custody. ICE officers transported Paredes-Ortiz to a location near the school in unmarked government vehicles. A school administrator escorted her son to the ICE officers, and he was voluntarily reunited with his mother in ICE custody without incident.”
US Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Tempe) said in a post on X that the mother and son were being transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, a detention facility opened in 2014 that Stanton had toured just a day earlier.
The detention facility is designed to hold families, including children, who are “held like criminals,” according to US Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). Advocates said the facility does not offer clean drinking water and there have been bugs, worms, and mold in detainees’ meals.
“What I saw there was heartbreaking, and this case reflects the same outrageous, misguided priorities under Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” Stanton said in a post on X. “This family should be home tonight, celebrating their son’s 8th grade promotion, not in federal detention hundreds of miles away.”
Castro, who visited the facility alongside Stanton, said families reported inadequate health care and improper education for the children within the facility, some of whom are as young as four years old.
“These kids, they’re hugging my leg and they’re asking me to get ’em outta there,” Castro said. “I mean, they are four years old, six years old, and they’re basically in a trailer prison.”
Stanton told the Arizona Republic nothing indicates Paredes-Ortiz has a criminal record and her order for detention was for missing a court hearing. The Trump administration has deployed ICE agents outside immigration courthouses, including in downtown Phoenix. Immigration attorneys and advocates say the tactic has caused immigrants with pending cases to skip hearings out of fear of arrest — which can trigger removal orders.
US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Phoenix) echoed Stanton’s call for the family’s release, writing on X that she is “sickened” by the incident.
“Terrorizing a child, ripping them from their community, and forcing them into detention is beyond cruel. It is inhumane and disgraceful,” Ansari wrote. “This is exactly the kind of fear and trauma we have continued to see under Trump’s mass detention policies.”
Advocates have set up a GoFundMe to assist the family.
