ICE holds – A 71-year-old Arizona great-grandmother, Maria Cristina Tapia Cornejo, has been held in ICE custody for more than 10 months at the Eloy Detention Center after a July 15, 2025 raid tied to Colt Grill restaurants. While her medically vulnerable status has drawn
By the time the call ends, the waiting doesn’t stop.
On May 7. a 71-year-old great-grandmother in federal immigration custody could be heard sobbing quietly as she told her family. “I’m not well. ” describing the stress of detention. officers who “yell at us. ” and the emotional toll of watching other detainees break down in tears. For her daughter. Carina Cardenas. the conversation was another week-long reminder that the system has kept her mother locked up for more than 10 months—while the people tied to the July 15. 2025 raid that began the ordeal have been out of detention.
Maria Cristina Tapia Cornejo. a dishwasher and great-grandmother at Colt Grill in Cottonwood. Arizona. has remained in the Eloy Detention Center. about one hour south of Phoenix. since the middle of July 2025. Her family says she is medically vulnerable. ICE says it provides care but has refused humanitarian release requests.
Robert and Brenda Clouston. the husband-and-wife owners of Colt Grill. were arrested in a case alleging they conspired to smuggle undocumented immigrants from Mexico to work at their restaurants at below minimum wage and harbored them in apartments they owned. They pleaded not guilty. Court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona show the Cloustons were released on their own recognizance shortly after their arrests under the stipulation they not leave the state.
But they have left Arizona several times while free, as their trial has continued to be postponed. The court documents show federal judge approvals granted them permission to travel out of state on five separate occasions to tend to properties they own in Foley. including their former restaurant. a home. and apartments. Those court-approved trips have ranged from eight days to more than two weeks. including a 17-day driving trip to Foley planned to begin May 12 and end May 29.
Tapia Cornejo’s detention, by contrast, has never loosened. During the July 15. 2025 raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. her name surfaced among 22 undocumented workers swept up and taken into custody for being unlawfully present in the United States. a civil violation under federal immigration laws. The day of the raid, Tapia Cornejo was working as a dishwasher at the Colt Grill in Cottonwood. ICE transported her to a processing center in Phoenix and then to the 1,500-bed Eloy Detention Center.
The raid targeted four Colt Grill restaurants in northern Arizona and a fifth location in Foley, Alabama. ICE’s operation included arrests and searches carried out with assistance from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers at Colt Grill restaurants and associated stash houses.
It is not clear what happened to all the other workers arrested during the raid. Some have been released on bond as they challenge their deportation. Others have been deported, including Ingrid Ayón, a 24-year-old table busser who had lived in the U.S. since she was a 4-month-old baby before she was returned to Mexico.
Tapia Cornejo stayed.
ICE refuses release on humanitarian grounds
ICE officials have refused numerous requests by Tapia Cornejo, her family, and advocates that she be released on humanitarian grounds, citing her lack of criminal record, her age, her declining memory, and disabilities and hearing impairments—she is deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other.
Liz Casey. an advocacy social worker at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. said it was rare to see older people without criminal records held in immigration detention. The nonprofit provides legal services to immigration detainees at Eloy Detention Center and two other detention centers in Florence.
Casey said she has seen more medically vulnerable people detained for long periods under the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. She described an increase that includes people with hearing impairment. vision impairment. people in wheelchairs. and people with chronic diseases such as cancer. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. and kidney stones. Casey said she has also seen pregnant women. “So we can confidently say that that has definitely increased. people with severe medical issues or disabilities or other vulnerabilities that are being detained and staying detained for long periods of time. ” she said.
ICE’s enforcement ramp has coincided with a surge in overall detention. More than 60,000 immigrants were detained as of April 4, up 52% since January 2025. Casey said that under previous administrations, ICE normally did not detain medically vulnerable people—or released them on humanitarian parole.
She also linked the increase to instances of medical neglect and deaths in ICE custody. Since 2025, ICE has reported at least 50 deaths of people in ICE custody. The number this year reached 18 as of May 1. 2026. including the March 2 death of 56-year-old Haitian asylum-seeker Emmanuel Damas. who had been held at the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center.
Tapia Cornejo’s family says her case reflects the gap between legal discretion and outcomes on the ground.
When her daughter and advocates asked for humanitarian release, ICE’s position did not change.
Tapia Cornejo’s family ties stretch deep into Arizona
Tapia Cornejo has “deep ties” to the United States, her daughter Carina Cardenas said. Tapia Cornejo has lived in Cottonwood for more than 25 years, Cardenas said, with four adult children in the city, 18 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Tapia Cornejo is married to Froylan Cardenas Barragan. Cardenas said her parents tried to legalize their immigration status through one of their U.S. citizen children. Her father gave up in 2022 and returned to Mexico, Cardenas said. Her mother was unable to proceed because she had a prior deportation order on her record.
Carina Cardenas, 31, is a nurse and the mother of six children ranging in age from 2 to 13. Before Tapia Cornejo was arrested, she took care of Cardenas’ six children while Cardenas studied for her nursing degree and worked as an ER tech.
Cardenas described the day her mother was taken: “I remember that the day that they detained her. That night I came home and I told my kids that their grandma had been taken by ICE and my two older boys were really upset. They were like, ‘This is all Donald Trump’s fault,’” she said.
In the months leading up to the July 15 raid, Cardenas said she had urged her mother to stop working and retire. Tapia Cornejo told her she liked to work because it kept her mind busy.
Now, family members take turns driving from Cottonwood to visit her at the Eloy Detention Center. Cardenas said it takes six hours round trip. She said she has noticed her mother has lost weight and is down to about 113 pounds.
During visits, Cardenas said Tapia Cornejo seems sad and depressed. “Honestly, she looks fragile,” Cardenas said. Visits last one hour. Cardenas said Tapia Cornejo tries to be strong, but it affects the children too. “When it’s time to say goodbye, ‘she cries and the kids cry. I don’t know if I’m doing good by taking the kids to see her or if I’m harming her more. ‘” Cardenas said.
One detention officer yelled at Tapia Cornejo in the kitchen area, Cardenas said. She filed a complaint with CoreCivic, the for-profit private prison company that runs the facility under contract with ICE.
Cardenas said her mother’s hearing issues complicate communication, especially when language barriers exist. She said she told the staff her mother wouldn’t move unless spoken to properly. “But I told them my mom has hearing issues so unless you’re making eye contact and you’re speaking clear and loud. sometimes she can’t comprehend what you’re saying. especially if there’s a language barrier because she only speaks Spanish. ” she said.
In visits, Tapia Cornejo shared accounts Cardenas described as disturbing. Cardenas said that during a March visit. Tapia Cornejo told her about a woman at the facility who tried to kill herself. “One of the inmates jumped from the top tier down onto like the ground to try to commit suicide. ” Cardenas said.
Cardenas also said Tapia Cornejo described an incident in which a detainee bit an officer and “they had ripped a chunk of skin off the officer.”
Why Tapia Cornejo is fighting deportation
Tapia Cornejo is fighting her deportation to Mexico because her family is in Cottonwood. She said she is afraid to return, describing the city where she is from in Mexico—Lázaro Cárdenas in the state of Michoacan—as plagued by cartel-related violence, kidnappings and extortion.
In her account to family, a cousin told her about two missing children and said one child was killed, dismembered, and buried in pieces with the body not fully recovered.
Tapia Cornejo said she would rather remain detained and fight for release in the United States than go back.
Women are segregated from men at the facility. Tapia Cornejo told family she believes she is the oldest woman held there, though she said she has met other women in their 50s and 60s during the 10 months she has spent locked up.
In February, ICE released a 79-year-old asylum-seeker and grandmother from Cuba who had been held for nine months at the Eloy Detention Center.
During a low point earlier this spring, Tapia Cornejo said she had problems with her memory. She said she wanted to lie in bed and not talk to anyone. She told family she went a few days without eating because she does not hear when meals are called. explaining. “because I’m deaf. My ears, they aren’t very good.”.
She said she started feeling better after working in the detention center’s laundry service because she likes to stay active. She said detention officers wake her at 4:30 in the morning so she can start her shift at 5 a.m., and she finishes at 10 a.m.
She said she hasn’t been told how much she is paid but believes it is about $3 a day.
Court proceedings and ICE’s stated basis for custody
ICE spokesperson Fernando X. Burgos said in a written statement that Tapia Cornejo was among several people arrested during the July 15, 2025 operation by the Prescott Valley office of Homeland Security Investigations.
Burgos said HSI agents were assisted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers to execute arrest and search warrants targeting Colt Grill restaurants and associated stash houses. He said several people were arrested and interviewed at the locations and that those found without legal status were taken to the Phoenix field office for processing.
Burgos said Tapia Cornejo is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who was detained and put in removal proceedings. He said she was charged with “illegal presence in the United States without admission or parole.”
Burgos said Tapia Cornejo was previously encountered at the Nogales port of entry around Sept. 5, 2000. He said she was arrested for violating U.S. immigration laws and removed to Mexico that same day.
Burgos said at some point after that date, Tapia Cornejo re-entered the United States without admission or parole, which he described as a felony.
Burgos said on Jan. 16, 2026, an immigration judge at the Eloy Detention Center ordered her deported to Mexico. He said Tapia Cornejo filed an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, and Burgos said she will remain in ICE custody pending her appeal.
Burgos added, “ICE defers to the Department of Justice for any expedited outcome on her latest appeal.”
Burgos also said ICE provides “comprehensive medical care from the moment” noncitizens enter ICE custody, including medical, dental, and mental health services as available, access to medical appointments, and 24-hour emergency care.
Faith leaders and family seek parole on humanitarian grounds
A group of faith leaders called in April for ICE to release Tapia Cornejo and several other people with medical conditions held in immigration detention facilities in Arizona. Rev. Kelley Dick. senior minister at Saguaro Christian Church in Tucson. said outside the ICE offices in Phoenix. “We cannot remain silent while a (71)-year-old grandmother loses her mind behind bars. Maria is not a danger to anyone and is deserving of compassion and dignity.”.
In April, Cardenas wrote an email to ICE requesting Tapia Cornejo’s release. She said in the email that ICE “has discretion to grant parole in urgent humanitarian situations such as this one.”
Cardenas wrote that Tapia Cornejo’s age and medical condition. combined with her long residence. family ties. and lack of any criminal record. “strongly favor release.” She said she would provide full financial support. ensure her mother attends medical appointments and any ICE reporting requirements. and guarantee compliance with conditions of supervision.
Cardenas wrote, “She will live in a stable home environment where her needs can be met.”
David Elicio. an ICE detention officer. wrote back to Cardenas in an email thanking her for providing “new information that we were not aware of.” Elicio stated Tapia Cornejo does not qualify for release on humanitarian parole because the reinstatement of an order of removal was final. Elicio also said an immigration judge postponed Tapia Cornejo’s removal to Mexico, but the final removal order still stands.
Cardenas wrote back that she “respectfully disagree[s]” with Elicio that Tapia Cornejo does not qualify for humanitarian release.
Her family, through a lawyer, filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court seeking to force the Trump administration to release Tapia Cornejo, Cardenas said.
ICE and the missing step: a face-to-face interview
Tapia Cornejo has said she wants to be released but has been waiting without being interviewed in person by ICE officials. ICE ignored multiple requests by The Arizona Republic to interview her in person at the detention facility.
ICE eventually allowed her to be interviewed over the phone.
During the 30-minute call on May 7, Tapia Cornejo could be heard sobbing quietly over the phone several times. She told her family: “I’m not well.” She described the stress and said that while some guards are “actually very good. ” others yell and make detainees feel “so insignificant. so humiliated.” She said she often sees other detainees “break down in tears. ” and she said the time spent confined “isn’t easy being cooped up like this. stuck in here. It really weighs on us. It’s depressing. … I just feel myself breaking down.”.
A routine built around visits
Tapia Cornejo remains detained at the Eloy Detention Center. She said she looks forward to weekly visits with her children and grandchildren and keeps a running tally of every family visit.
In the May 7 call, she told family, “I’ve had 138 visits from my family,” explaining, “That’s counting every single time: when my grandson comes, when my granddaughter comes. And I count each one as a separate visit.” She added, “That is what sustains me.”
For now. the case moves through legal lanes that have diverged sharply: the Cloustons. Robert and Brenda Clouston. are out on recognizance and awaiting trial now scheduled for Nov. 10 after postponements, with court-approved travel out of Arizona documented in filings. Tapia Cornejo. one of 22 undocumented workers detained in July 2025 during the Colt Grill raid. has remained in custody through her appeal process as ICE continues to deny humanitarian release.
The question for her family is not abstract. It is measured in drives that take six hours each way, in one-hour visits, in weight loss and memory struggles, and in a phone call where exhaustion and pain spill through the line—again.
ICE detention Eloy Detention Center Maria Cristina Tapia Cornejo Colt Grill raid Robert Clouston Brenda Clouston humanitarian parole immigration enforcement CoreCivic habeas corpus immigration courts medically vulnerable detainees