Federal authorities are releasing fourth-grader Elizabeth Zuna, the first of several students detained by immigration officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights, the school district’s superintendent said late Tuesday.
Elizabeth and her mother were “picked up by ICE on their way to school” on Jan. 6 and were being held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, Zena Stenvik said in a statement. The ICE facility, which houses parents and children taken into federal custody over alleged violations of immigration law, is located in south Texas.
It wasn’t clear when they would return to Minnesota due in part to a measles outbreak at the detention facility that “may require a quarantine period,” Stenvik said, adding that “we do not know the status of Elizabeth’s health at this time.”
But, she went on to say, “We are filled with joy at the anticipation of the family when Elizabeth’s father can once again be reunited with his daughter and wife.”
Columbia Heights is the same city where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were detained last month in a case that sparked much controversy. Both were released from Dilley and returned home Sunday, a day after a federal judge ordered ICE to free them.
Columbia Heights schools reopened Tuesday following a racially and politically motivated bomb threat that forced them to close for the day on Monday, CBS News Minnesota reported.
While it was a relief for district residents to see Liam return home, Stenvik said the struggle is far from over.
“Having Liam return to his family has provided us with a glimmer of hope, but it is bittersweet,” she said, pointing out that four other Columbia Heights students were still in federal custody at Dilley. Elizabeth’s release would leave three.
Stenvik also said dozens of parents of Columbia Heights elementary schoolers have been taken by federal agents.
She observed that while many people are hoping for de-escalation of tensions and of the ICE presence in the district, she hasn’t seen any.
In her statement late Monday, Stenvik said, “We have been very concerned about (Elizabeth) and our other students and families who are unjustly being held in detention centers. We seek the full release of all children and unjustly detained parents from detention center across our country.
“We seek a diplomatic and peaceful solution to end this terror that the enhanced immigration enforcement is causing in our community, our state and our county.”
