A Tucson DACA recipient who was detained without a warrant and held for three days returned home after an immigration judge dismissed her removal proceedings, but her attorney warned the fight is not over.

Karla Toledo was taken from her home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on May 18 without a warrant. Toledo was temporarily held at the regional ICE field office for 12 hours before being transferred to the Eloy Detention Center.

Toledo returned home after being in detention for three full days.

While Toledo was in custody, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement claiming Toledo entered the country illegally and that she assaulted an officer while being detained.

Toledo's attorney, Mo Goldman, disputed both claims during a Tuesday news conference, citing documentation that allowed Toledo to travel outside the U.S. and noting that available video footage from her home showed no clear evidence of an assault on an ICE officer.

"What I hold here is an order from the immigration judge, signed by Judge Irene Feldman, that says that Karla Toledo's removal proceedings have been dismissed," Goldman said.

Goldman had filed a motion Monday to dismiss removal proceedings against Toledo, while ICE was in the process of filing a separate motion to dismiss the case without prejudice.

"That means they can come back and get her again. We cannot stand for that," Goldman said. "(Karla) was the victim of circumstance. She was a year old when she came to the United States. She's had DACA protection since October 31, 2012. She is everything that is right about this country. She's somebody that we need in this country."

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients have protection from deportation and two-year-renewable work permits if said recipients maintain a clean criminal record. While Toledo has valid DACA paperwork for now, it is set to expire next month and her renewal paperwork is still processing.

"I am full of emotion," Toledo said Tuesday. "I'm really grateful to my community, who have shown up for me, but I'm still really nervous about the outcomes."

The current immigration landscape in the U.S. continues to shift unexpectedly. The Trump administration recently announced that individuals applying for a green card must leave the country and reapply through their American consulate, unless they have an "extraordinary" exception.

Goldman said the Trump administration has argued that DACA recipients have no legal protections against deportation, claiming that the "deferred action" portion of the DACA acronym explicitly states the deferment of deportation.

"DACA applications are being dragged. They have tens of thousands of applications for new DACAs that they're not processing. They're just sitting on these applications. It's a shame. We need to put more and more pressure on the government to do the right thing," Goldman said.

Goldman said an expired DACA leaves Toledo without legal protections and potentially unable to work legally, forcing people into situations the government claims to oppose. He called it bad policy that harms both individuals and the broader community.

Toledo spoke about her experience being processed at the Eloy Detention Center.

"I was in a room with 33 women, and one bathroom. Your privacy ends when you enter detention," Toledo said. "I was there for 18 hours. There are only a few benches, no bed or blankets. We slept on the floor or on the benches. They never told us how long we'd be there. If they would have told us we'd be there for a day, then the anxiety wouldn't have been so high."

Toledo said treatment from correction officers varied, with some less welcoming toward detainees who didn't speak English, a gap she filled by interpreting for the women she met there.

Eloy Detention Center's Voluntary Work Program offers detained individuals $1 a day to work jobs including laundry and food service. Toledo said that dollar-a-day wage is often the only way detainees can afford to contact their families.

"The conditions, apart from the way they treated us, were horrible," she said.

Despite her ordeal, Toledo said she plans to continue her work with the Tucson Language Justice Collective.

“Being involved in the community, helping those as well that helped me. There's a lot of opportunities for being that voice for people,” Toledo said.

Executive Director of Scholarships A-Z Carolina Silva was present at the May 18 rally demanding Toledo's release and again at her court hearing Tuesday.

"It feels like a huge relief, of course, but I think part of me is really hesitant to celebrate this one, because I feel that they could continue to come after her," Silva said. "While I am glad at the moment, I don't necessarily know if the battle is over, and I'm really terrified for the rest of our community that is also right in limbo, also waiting for their DACA to be renewed. I feel like we're always having to look over our shoulders and continue being vigilant."

Local representatives also expressed their support for Toledo, including Tucson City Councilmember Kevin Dahl, whose ward Toledo lives in.

"Karla is a valued member of our community. She's been in my office doing Spanish-English translations for nonprofit groups that are trying to improve the lives of people in my ward," Dahl said. "These (individuals) are not deplorables, they're not criminals. (ICE is) getting rid of some of the best citizens (and) they're doing it indiscriminately. I'm with the group that says 'ICE out.' They're not doing us any favors."

U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva echoed that sentiment in a press release.

"While I am very happy for Karla and her family, they should have never had to go through this incredibly traumatic ordeal," Grijalva said. "Karla's case underscores the cruelty of this administration's mass deportation agenda, which is now targeting DACA recipients … We should be providing DREAMers like Karla with a clear pathway to citizenship. Instead, this administration is terrorizing our communities, separating families, and targeting people who have spent their lives contributing to the only country they have ever called home."

Community support for Toledo extended beyond the rally and press conference.

Last Friday, bike-riding group Familias Unidas Ganando Accesibilidad (Families United Gaining Accessibility), or FUGA, turned their monthly Friday Southside bike ride into an opportunity to support Eloy detainees.

La Rosa Ride coincided with a Spanish-language book drive to be donated to the Eloy Detention Center, hosted by groups including the office of Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, Sunnyside Foundation and Common Defense.

Members of the ride wore red, "a symbol of dignity, remembrance, resistance, and love beyond borders," according to FUGA's Instagram post.

"We came together in July of 2018 during the time of the first Trump administration, and there was so much fear … a lot of mistrust between our community, and we wanted to use the bicycle as a way to connect, as a way to organize, as a way to dream," said Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz. "We see the continued attacks on our communities, the continuation of violence against our immigrant families, against our mixed status families … we're going to continue to stand up."

Toledo was at the event, expressing gratitude to the community and urging other DACA recipients to keep proof of their status readily accessible, including character letters, education certificates and other documentation stored somewhere like Google Drive.

"I have received a lot of support from the community ... Everyone stepped up and showed (me) what community is, and I love that about Tucson," Toledo said. "It is really hard to just act like nothing happened, but … being active in the community, being with the community, I feel like that's going to keep me going."

Topacio “Topaz” Servellon is a reporter with Tucson Spotlight. Contact them at topacioserve@gmail.com.

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