Florida Family Demands Daughter's Return from ICE Custody

Family's Plea for Maria Martinez

• 💔 A Sarasota family is distressed after their 22-year-old daughter, Maria Martinez, known as Lulu, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
• 🎓 Maria had recently graduated from State College of Florida with a degree in business administration and aspired to become a pilot.
• 🚔 Her arrest followed a traffic stop for an illegal U-turn, leading to a charge of driving without a license.

Allegations of Mistreatment and ICE Tactics

• 😠 Maria's mother alleges that her daughter was mistreated with racism and treated like a criminal while in Sarasota County Jail.
• ✈️ She has since been transferred to multiple detention facilities, currently held in Texas.
• 📢 Maria's family, alongside the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network, is demanding her return, stating, "Our children do not belong in cages."
• 🗣️ Immigration attorney Ranatada Castro suggests ICE is using family separation as a tactic for deportation and to create panic within the immigrant community.

Seeking Due Process and Rights

• ⚖️ The family is pleading for Maria to be released on bond to allow for due process.
• 📄 Castro reminds immigrant families that they have rights, even without legal status, and advises not to sign documents or make statements to ICE without legal counsel.