ICE detains mother and daughter at Florida hospital following car crash
US immigration agents arrested an Ecuadorian mother and daughter at a Florida hospital where they were being treated after a serious car crash, despite neither having a criminal record.
On August 20, a mother and daughter from Ecuador were injured in a car crash in Poinciana, central Florida, after another vehicle struck their car on the passenger side, causing it to roll over multiple times. Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, 19, were taken by ambulance to HCA Florida Poinciana hospital and placed in separate rooms.
According to a relative, Jonathan Bravo, who spoke to reporters, a Polk county sheriff's deputy at the hospital began questioning Calero Cabanilla about her immigration status while she was being treated. Footage shared online showed the two women embracing and crying on a hospital bed as officers tried to separate them, and later showed Calero Cabanilla being led away with her hands restrained behind her back.
A Polk county sheriff's office spokesperson said that during the crash investigation, deputies learned the driver had been living in the US illegally after overstaying an expired visa from Ecuador by several years, and that her daughter had similarly overstayed her visa. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued detainers for both, and once discharged from hospital they were taken into custody and transported to Polk County Jail. An arrest warrant showed neither woman had a prior criminal record.
Bravo said Calero Cabanilla has a pending asylum case and holds a work permit, while her daughter has a visa valid until 2030.
The case adds to a string of recent ICE arrests that have drawn criticism nationwide, including the detention of a father of a US Navy sailor deployed in the Middle East, along with several university instructors and researchers detained in recent weeks. Critics say such cases contradict the administration's stated focus on targeting the "worst of the worst" criminal offenders, noting that previous analysis found the vast majority of people newly placed into deportation proceedings had no criminal convictions.
