Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) is calling out the Trump administration after a Tempe mother and her son were taken into federal immigration custody near a local elementary school this week, on the same day the student was set to celebrate his eighth-grade promotion.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were seen near Cecil Shamley School on Tuesday, May 26, though the Tempe Elementary School District confirmed the detention occurred off school property.
"This family should be home tonight, celebrating their son's 8th grade promotion, not in federal detention hundreds of miles away," Rep. Stanton urged.
According to Principal Bronwyn Sternberg, KTAR reported that the parent had followed standard school procedures to sign her child out before agents arrived. The two were subsequently transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in south Texas, hundreds of miles from home.
Interestingly enough, just one day earlier, he had joined Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA) on a congressional oversight visit to the very facility where the Tempe family would soon arrive.
Visit to Dilley Center
The Dilley Center, which reopened in 2025 under an agreement between Trump's Department of Homeland Security and CoreCivic Inc., is one of only two family detention centers in the country and can hold up to 2,400 detainees. At the time of the lawmakers' visit, 345 people were being held there, including 66 families and 97 children.
During the visit, detained families described poor food quality, difficult sleeping conditions, and limited access to education and medical care, accounts that align with broader reporting on conditions at the facility.
"We spoke to the children, parents, and spouses being swept up into Trump's mass deportation machine — mothers separated from their American-born children, business owners imprisoned for months, and families left in deportation limbo after decades here with no criminal record," Stanton said. "On-the-ground oversight of ICE facilities has never been more urgent, and we're going to keep showing up."
Castro confirmed the Tempe mother and son had arrived in San Antonio, and sharply criticized conditions at the facility. "Right now, there are three kids under the age of three locked up at the Dilley trailer prison, and ICE is making it harder for members of Congress to conduct oversight and hear directly from families,” he said.
Back at Shamley School, administrators adjusted Thursday's eighth grade promotion ceremony in response to the situation. Parents were not permitted to attend in person, though sixth- and seventh-grade students were. A recorded video was made available to families of the graduating class.
The district also said students who wished to participate in a walkout would not face disciplinary action, provided they were properly signed out by a parent or guardian.
