Louisiana nursing student speaks out during her six-month ICE detention | US immigration
A recent graduate of LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing has been held at an ICE processing center in Basile, Louisiana, for the past six months after her arrest by immigration officials over the summer.
Vilma Palacios had just accepted a position at Touro Infirmary when ICE agents arrested her and transported her to the processing center in Basile. His arrest comes amid a broader crackdown on immigrants under the Trump administration, including cases involving individuals with no criminal record and seeking legal residency.
22-year-old Palacios told nola.com He has been denied bail and may be forced to voluntarily return to Honduras, the country he left with his family when he was six, as he continues to await a decision on his immigration case, he said.
“The only thing I want right now is to have my freedom back,” Palacios said in a statement to the press. “I don’t want to be trapped in a space where everything is controlled. I have no power to do anything. I feel hopeless all the time. And nothing acts to help me.”
Palacios said he applied for asylum as a child. He had previously been issued a work permit and requested another when he was arrested in June. He has no criminal convictions.
According to Palacios, ICE agents arrested him on June 26 while trying to obtain a routine vehicle inspection sticker. He said an unmarked vehicle pulled up behind him and agents approached and informed him that he was under arrest. Palacios said he was not aware that the immigration case had been returned to the active file.
She immediately sent two text messages to a former classmate from nursing school, saying she was on probation and speaking with her lawyer. His phone was taken a short time later.
Palacios said he suffered emotional exhaustion during the months he spent in the ICE processing center, had no access to personal belongings and spent his time in a shared dormitory with other detainees.
She also reported difficulty accessing basic hygiene supplies, including shampoo and menstrual products. In some cases, it took up to a week for menstrual pads to be provided after requesting them from officers, she said.
“On June 26, 2025, DHS law enforcement officers arrested Vilma Nicol Palacios-Fuentes, an illegal alien from Honduras,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in a statement to Nola. “He freely admitted that he was in the United States illegally. It will take full due process. To put it plainly, a work permit does not give legal status.”
In a separate statement to Nola, DHS disputed allegations about conditions at the detention facility. “This is the best healthcare many aliens have ever received in their lives,” the statement said.
Family and immigration advocates have staged protests calling for Palacios’ release, citing her involvement in society and her commitment to nursing at a time of national labor shortages.
