ICE denied humanitarian parole to 79-year-old dementia patient, holding her at Eloy nine months

On February 15, 2026, the Arizona Daily Star published an investigation reporting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has largely stopped using its discretion to release detained immigrants on humanitarian parole, with legal advocates describing the agency's response to such requests as blanket denials. The investigation's central case was Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker with dementia who relies on a wheelchair. Benitez surrendered to Border Patrol agents near Lukeville, Arizona in May 2025 and had been held at Eloy Detention Center for nine months by the time of the Star's report, despite her family's repeated requests for humanitarian parole and her rapidly deteriorating mental condition. Because she entered the country outside an official port of entry, Benitez was subject to mandatory detention and was denied a bond hearing before an immigration judge, leaving parole as her only possible path to release while her case proceeded. ICE did not respond to the Star's questions about why it would not release her.

Benitez's case was not isolated: the number of people age 65 and older detained by ICE in the first five months of 2025 rose 150% compared with the same period in 2024, according to a Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team analysis of ICE detention data obtained through the Deportation Data Project. Immigration detention is legally civil rather than punitive, and ICE retains discretion to release detainees who pose no flight risk or public-safety threat -- discretion advocates say the agency is now declining to exercise as a matter of policy rather than case-by-case judgment.

Updates

2026-02-19 — Rep. Grijalva visited Benitez at Eloy, criticized "blanket denials" [5]

U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva made her first oversight visit to Eloy Detention Center on February 19, 2026, prompted by the Star's investigation, and met Benitez. Grijalva said facility officials described roughly 1,300 people held at Eloy, near its 1,500-person capacity, with a notable increase in elderly detainees; she said the administration's "blanket denials" of humanitarian parole were producing "catastrophic, heartbreaking" results and advocated for Benitez's release.

2026-02-26 — ICE released Benitez on humanitarian parole after nine months [2][3][4]

ICE released Benitez from Eloy Detention Center on the evening of February 26, 2026, 11 days after the Star's investigation and one week after Grijalva's visit. Grijalva met Benitez at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport as she left to reunite with her daughter and grandchildren in Miami. ICE did not respond to questions about the reasoning for her release or about its broader parole-denial policy. Grijalva welcomed the release but said it "begs the question" of how many other medically vulnerable people remain in detention, and called for a review of all humanitarian-parole requests.