ICE arrest prompts closed Tempe school promotion | FOX 10 Phoenix

本站添加: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]A mother and son who I immigration and customs enforcement says are here illegally. They are being held now by ICE. The boy was detained near his school in Tempe. Tuesday, 47year-old Marggoth Pedes Ortiz of Ecuador was booked at the Ice Field office in Phoenix, and she was issued a removal order in March after being suspected of human smuggling. ICE says she requested that her 14-year-old son be returned with her to South America because there was no one left here in America to take care of him. Well, he was picked up outside of Cecil Shamley School in Tempe. The Tempe Elementary School District says the detention did not take place on school property. The boy was expected though to graduate from 8th grade today. Meanwhile, the school told parents today that they would not be allowed to attend that eighth grade graduation ceremony.

[00:00:51]>> And it was all to keep everyone safe and to prevent any potential protests or disruptions. Fox 10's Jacob Luthie is live now. And Jacob, you heard from families there today.

[00:01:03]Yeah, Ellen John, look, this is a sad situation all around really because that parent was saying that one student who was looking forward to his eighth grade promotion was not able to attend and also families looking to celebrate their children's milestone were denied that opportunity.

[00:01:22]This video from Neftaly Smith shows Cecil Shamley school parents trying to catch a glimpse of their children as they take the next step in their academic journey. It's something that we would have celebrated. We would have normally had balloons and flowers and, you know, just kind of made a big deal of it.

[00:01:37]>> Smith says family had called off work to celebrate her daughter's eighth grade promotion. A day prior, Shamley School sent this letter to parents, saying the promotion ceremony would move forward as scheduled, but without parents or other guests in the audience.

[00:01:51]>> We love the district. It's just sometimes the ball gets dropped. When speaking with the district, Smith says administrators were concerned that a protest held Wednesday would carry over into Thursday's promotion ceremony. I says agents arrested a 47year-old woman from Ecuador earlier this week after a border patrol referral. According to the agency, the woman asked for her son to be released from Ceil Shamley School so he could return with her to Ecuador with school officials escorting the child to agents without incident. The Tempe Elementary School District putting out this statement, saying they are aware of the detainment, but added it did not take place on school property.

[00:02:29]>> There's a child that didn't get to graduate today and and that's very sad.

[00:02:33]Um, I don't know the circumstances and and all of that, but that doesn't matter. My daughter did not know him personally, but her friend did. Um, so I know they were kind of shaken up and and it's a difficult situation for the kids.

[00:02:44]Smith says she believes the district could have handled the situation better, including finding a way to allow parents and family members to attend while also communicating more clearly about the reasons behind what unfolded. She says they still found a way to celebrate her daughter.

[00:02:59]>> We went out to breakfast and kind of celebrated. Yeah, it is going from, you know, 8th grade to 9th, but I think that's a big milestone for for a lot of kids and a lot of families.

[00:03:10]Now, Smith says that a link eventually was sent to the families of that promotion ceremony that was sent to them by the elementary school. Now, statements, full statements from both ICE as well as the Tempe Elementary School District could be found on our website at fox10 phoenix.com. Reporting live in Tempe, Jacob Luthy, Fox 10 News.