ICE agents arrested asylum seeker Isa Maluenga Avila without explanation, detained her 18 days at Eloy
On January 26, 2026, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Isa Maluenga Avila, a 41-year-old Tucson asylum seeker lawfully admitted at the Nogales port of entry in 2023, without explanation as she left a bank, and sent her to Eloy Detention Center. ICE gave no reason for the arrest, and Maluenga Avila had no criminal record and no active removal case or final removal order against her. She was held 18 days in conditions she described as inhumane before an immigration judge ordered her release on February 13, 2026, after DHS moved to dismiss its case rather than respond to a federal habeas corpus petition her attorney had filed.
Actors
On January 26, 2026, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Isa Maluenga Avila, 41, without explanation as she left a Bank of America branch on East Broadway and Wilmot in Tucson, Arizona, and sent her to Eloy Detention Center, about 50 miles away. Maluenga Avila, a former Venezuelan firefighter who fled after being kidnapped and tortured by agents of the Maduro regime, had been lawfully admitted to the United States at the Nogales port of entry in 2023, had no criminal record, and had a pending asylum application; she had no active removal case or final removal order against her.
Maluenga Avila said the agents wore hoods and showed no identification, and told her she was "worth $1,500" as they took her into custody -- a remark she said she understood as a bounty for her arrest and which echoes earlier reporting of ICE agents describing per-arrest payments. ICE did not respond to the Arizona Daily Star's questions about why she was arrested, whether she was specifically targeted, or her account of the $1,500 remark; the claim is reported here as Maluenga Avila's own account, not as an established fact.
Maluenga Avila was held 18 days at Eloy in conditions she called inhumane, citing poor food and untrained staff and saying detainees were treated "like animals." Her attorney, Mo Goldman, called the arrest "inexplicable" and said Maluenga Avila was his third client in two weeks detained by the Department of Homeland Security and then released after he filed a habeas petition or contacted ICE directly.
Updates
2026-02-13 — DHS moved to dismiss removal case, Maluenga Avila released after habeas petition [1]
After a federal judge ordered DHS to show cause for Maluenga Avila's detention, DHS's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the removal case against her during a February 12, 2026 hearing at Eloy's on-site immigration court, and the presiding immigration judge ordered her release. She was released from Eloy Detention Center on February 13, 2026, 18 days after her arrest, following a habeas corpus petition her attorney had filed February 2, 2026 challenging the legality of her detention.
Why we recorded this
Due process protects the right not to be detained without a lawful basis or a chance to contest one. ICE agents arrested asylum seeker Isa Maluenga Avila without explanation, holding a woman with no criminal record and no active removal case for 18 days at Eloy Detention Center. The government only moved to dismiss its case and release her after a federal judge ordered it to show cause why the detention was lawful, and her attorney said Maluenga Avila was his third client released within two weeks after DHS backed down from a habeas challenge. Detention that ends only when challenged in court, not when the government can show legal grounds for it in the first place, is the due-process failure this archive exists to document.
Sources
- 'They treat us like animals': Inside a Tucson woman's 18-day battle against wrongful detention — Arizona Daily Star (tucson.com) primary accessed August 14, 2026
- 5 key points about a Tucson asylum seeker's wrongful arrest — Arizona Daily Star (tucson.com) secondary accessed August 14, 2026
See also
- ICE detained 10-year-old Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother on the way to school and held them a month at Dilley, Texas
- ICE and Orange County Jail unlawfully detained Venezuelan student without charges for 18 days
- ICE deported 5-year-old U.S. citizen Génesis Gutiérrez Castellanos to Honduras without a hearing or access to counsel
- ICE agents battered down Minneapolis man's front door and arrested him without a warrant; judge ruled the raid unconstitutional
- ICE arrested NYC Council employee Rafael Rubio at a routine asylum interview and detained him 158 days despite his valid TPS
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