Minnesota girl, 10, released from ICE custody after a month in detention | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl, one of hundreds of children detained at the facility, was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after a month in custody in Dilley, Texas, school officials said.

Fourth grader Elizabeth Caisaguano and her mother walked free from the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Tuesday night. Elizabeth is a student in the school district of Columbia Heights, a suburb of Minneapolis; The area is also home to five-year-old Liam Ramos, who was released from Dilley over the weekend amid widespread anger over his detention.

School leaders said Elizabeth and her mother were taken away by federal agents on Jan. 6, the first of five Columbia Heights students detained by ICE during the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants in the area. School officials said the family, originally from Ecuador, has an active asylum case.

The girl and her mother were at a shelter in Texas on Wednesday morning and were returning to Minnesota to be reunited with her father, a family attorney said.

Concerns about Elizabeth’s health grew after federal officials confirmed there was now a measles outbreak in Dilley, where the family lived. There are hundreds of children detained at the facility.

Carolina Gutierrez, principal secretary of Elizabeth’s school, Highland elementary, is assisting the family and told the Guardian on Wednesday that the girl was experiencing flu-like symptoms and her mother had hives, but a medical evaluation had not yet been carried out.

“I’m excited to see Elizabeth go back to school. I’m extremely happy and relieved, and we must continue to speak out and advocate for other people to return home,” Gutierrez said.

Elizabeth and her mother were picked up by agents on their way to school, Gutierrez said, and the girl was able to call her father during the arrests, act as a translator for her family and tell her father that officers were dropping her off at school.

The father said he ran to the elementary school and waited with school staff for hours, but Elizabeth did not show up. By the end of that day, Elizabeth and her mother had already flown to Texas. School social worker Tracy Xiong described the incident at a news conference with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday, saying the father was inconsolable after his family was taken away, according to the report. Sahan Magazinea local news source.

“The image of Elizabeth’s father will stay with me forever,” Xiong said. “I saw him sitting in his car, burying his head in his hands, and crying uncontrollably.”

When Elizabeth was detained, she thought she would be sent back to Ecuador. Gutierrez said: “When he flew to Texas, he thought his dreams were over. He dreamed of becoming a doctor. He begged his father: ‘Get me out of here. I want to go back home. I want to go back to school. I want to eat well.’ … My mother and father did not understand why they were treated this way. They said we didn’t do anything wrong.”

Gutierrez, who works with his father, and raise funds He said on behalf of the family: “He was upset and desperate for answers. He couldn’t sleep. He had no appetite. He felt very helpless.”

Elizabeth’s case was assigned to US judge Fred Biery, who ordered the release of Liam Ramos. The judge argued that the boy’s case “apparently arose from the government’s ill-conceived and clumsily enforced daily deportation quotas, even when this involved traumatizing children.”

On Monday, Biery issued an order blocking the removal or transfer of Elizabeth and her mother and giving the federal government five days to respond to the family’s petition for release.

Their sudden release the next day was a surprise, said Bobby Painter, managing attorney for the Immigration Law Council of Texas, a nonprofit organization representing the family.

Stating that Elizabeth and her mother should never have been detained, he said, “This should not have happened. This is a family that went through the process as desired. They applied to the border as refugees and were accepted into the country. This case is still ongoing. They did everything they had to do, but they still found themselves detained and separated.”

Painter said Elizabeth was an “avid reader” and “really wanted to get back into that routine.”

Following growing outcry over the detention of Elizabeth, Liam and other Minnesota students, including a two-year-old girl, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it is giving arrested parents the opportunity to detain their children with them or place them in the care of another adult.

But Columbia Heights officials disputed that, saying agents made it difficult or impossible for parents to place their children with others during the often chaotic arrests.

In a statement, DHS defended the girl’s detention, saying that after her arrest, Elizabeth’s mother “allowed officers to make a phone call to place the child in the custody of someone of her own designation.” “She was unable to find a trusted adult to care for the child, so officers kept the family together for the child’s welfare,” the DHS statement said.

That statement contradicts claims by family and school officials who said the father was ready to take custody, and DHS did not respond to questions about the discrepancies.

DHS also said Elizabeth’s mother had a “final restraining order.” Painter disputed that characterization, saying a judge denied the asylum request but the family filed a timely appeal, which is still pending, meaning there is no final restraining order.

Lawyers say Liam’s case received international attention after his photo went viral, but his case is not unique.

From January to October 2025, ICE detained nearly 3,800 minors, including children as young as one or two, in immigrant family custody, according to a Guardian analysis of detention data.

“Family detention, even for relatively short periods of time, is very traumatic for children,” Painter said. “Children should not be detained under any circumstances. The entire practice of family detention is immoral and bad policy, and I hope that public interest in this issue will continue until we have no more children left in this situation.”

Gutierrez said the community has stepped up to defend the families, but the detention of Elizabeth and the others has harmed the families: “Trauma follows these kids into classrooms. Students are afraid for themselves and their classmates. Every day, they wonder if they’ll see their classmates tomorrow.”