***Updates***

3/31/26

M.'s husband called her today from Ecuador. DHS deported him sometime between Sunday and this morning, even though he had a scheduled asylum court date next week.

We're shocked and extremely disappointed. M. still has an active asylum case and her six-month-old son is a US citizen, so we are going to focus on her case after she's had some time to recover.

Thank you again to everyone who has given and for your understanding as we navigate a cruel and unpredictable system.

3/31/26 morning

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated.

ICE has moved M.'s husband to a different detention center in Arizona, and we're currently trying to locate him. He no longer appears on the ICE locator website.

We're scared for M.'s husbands safety, and we're seeing firsthand how ICE makes it incredibly challenging to connect prisoners with counsel.

M. had her first consult with a lawyer in Texas on Monday afternoon (3/30), shortly after learning her husband had been relocated. Due to the added cost and time of having a Texas-based lawyer travel to Arizona, we decided to find a lawyer in Arizona.

M. spoke with a different lawyer last night. They advised us to wait a full 24 hours for M.'s husband's information to update on the ICE website. If he's still missing after that, they can help us locate him, meet with him at the detention center, and explore our options for freeing him.

We're deeply grateful for your help. It allows us to move quickly as things change, and it gives M. hope that she'll be able to reunite her family.

***

My neighbor, M., is an Ecuadorian immigrant and a new mom living in Minnesota. She and her husband arrived in the United States as asylum seekers in the summer of 2023, hoping to find safety and opportunity. They welcomed their first child, a baby boy, seven months ago.

In early February, their lives were turned upside down when ICE detained her husband and sent him to a detention center in Texas. Since then, she has been facing the unimaginable task of caring for her baby alone while fighting to bring her husband home. The legal process is complicated and expensive, and she needs support to cover the legal fees required to get her husband out of detention and to move forward with both of their asylum cases.

My neighbor is an amazing mom who wants nothing more than to create the brightest possible future for her son. She and her husband came to the United States to escape violence and lack of opportunity in Ecuador, and I hope we can come together to help them find safety and stability here in Minnesota. Any support you can give will make a real difference in their lives. Thank you for standing with M. and her family during such a difficult time.