Family demands release of Karla Toledo, a Tucson community advocate with DACA status

Arizona leaders and community members gathered Monday afternoon outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Tucson to demand the release of a community advocate and local influencer with DACA status. 

Karla Toledo, 31, was detained early Monday at her home, her mother, Veronica Ortiz, told Somos Tucson. The Tucson resident and influencer who goes by “Karlangas” on social media is well known for her outreach and work with immigrant and low-income families.

According to Ortiz, ICE agents arrived at her home without a warrant early Monday and arrested her despite her having protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

While the program offers temporary authorized stay and employment for a small percentage of the undocumented population in the U.S., since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched its mass deportation operations in January 2025, many have come to learn that the status does not necessarily grant protection from deportation.

“We’re seeing that this is how this administration is working at the moment. They don’t care and they arrive [at people’s homes] and [detain] families,” Ortiz said while standing outside the ICE building with her husband.

Footage of her detention, captured by a home security camera, was shared on social media by her husband and shows at least five agents at her door. The initial images show at least three agents rushing into the house with screams heard from a woman inside. Moments later, two agents walk out and a verbal back and forth ensues. It is unclear if at this point, Toledo, is being detained inside her home by the third agent.

From inside the home, she repeatedly asks for a warrant, to which the agents respond they don’t have one and because she “ran,” they are within their legal right to arrest her. The images do not show Toledo running as the camera only captures movement outside of the home. The video then jumps to her being arrested and taken to a vehicle parked on the street in front of her home.

Joining Toledo’s mom at the emergency protest outside of ICE headquarters in Tucson were dozens of leaders and community members demanding that her daughter be released. Alongside them was U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who was granted access to see Toledo. 

The congresswoman representing southern Arizona was able to speak briefly with Toledo through a door and confirmed she was physically okay, she said directly to her mother outside of the building. ICE headquarters in downtown Tucson are intended to be a temporary holding facility before detained individuals are transferred over to a longer-hold facility, like those in Eloy and Florence.

According to Ortiz, they were told Toledo would be transferred to Florence soon.

ICE told CALÓ News that the agency was working on a statement regarding Toledo's arrest. As of Tuesday afternoon, the agency had yet to issue one.

Toledo was brought to the U.S. by her family from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, when she was one year old. Her DACA was set to expire next month and she was in the renewal process, having just attended a USCIS appointment, her mother said. 

“We’re here to demand that they release her. She doesn’t deserve to be in there… she is not a criminal, she hasn’t committed any crime,” Ortiz said.

Grijalva, on her end, pledged to remain in Toledo’s and other detained constituents’ corner. 

“Karla has legal status in this country. She is a member of our community, has dedicated herself to education, advocacy; is regularly an interpreter for other people… she’s in there and she shouldn't be,” Grijalva said in a video shared on Instagram.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero put out a statement on Monday as well standing with Toledo and her family and calling for her immediate release. She said she would continue working with congressional members in fighting for her release and to “hold this administration accountable.”

In April, the Board of Immigration Appeals — “the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws” operating under the directive of the Department of Justice — ruled that having DACA status does not provide an individual with relief from deportation, effectively making it easier for the current administration to continue detaining and deporting current permit-holders.

The exact numbers of impacted beneficiaries isn’t clear.

From January 2025 to November 2025, the department detained 261 DACA recipients and deported 86 of them, according to a letter signed by former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in February of this year. However, those numbers contradict a January-issued DHS letter which indicates that 270 DACA recipients were detained and 174 deported between January 2025 and September 2025.

The national organization FWD.us launched a campaign this month to document and push back against the Trump administration’s “escalating attacks” on DACA recipients, including delaying renewals, denying new applicants, detaining current beneficiaries and deporting them.