Two months ago during homecoming celebrations, Michell Germán was crowned Lady-in -Waiting at El Paso High School, donning a white “Hoco Court” sash over her Tigerettes dance team uniform. Her mother and 11-year-old sister stood proudly beside her, holding small cellophane-wrapped flower bouquets.
Michell planned to participate in Senior Night festivities Friday, a celebration honoring senior student-athletes, performers and participants in extracurricular programs.
Instead, the 17-year-old and her father, mother and sister are sitting in the South Texas Family Residential Center near Austin after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on their way to school two weeks ago.
“She’s missing memories she’ll never get back,” Congressman Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said in an Instagram post Thursday. Castro noted the school and dance team had planned a special recognition of Michell for Senior Night, but two of her friends on Friday told El Paso Matters that she asked that not happen. Castro in the post said he met with the family at the detention center last week and called Michell “a bright young student.”
Those who know her say that might be an understatement.
“She and her family are incredible people, they’re good people with good hearts,” 17-year-old Ximena Terrazas said about her friend and dance troupe colleague. They often talked about teenage girl stuff, she said, including boyfriends, teachers, homework, music and dance routines. And whether it was offering an ear or a shoulder or hands-on help, Michell has been trustworthy and reliable, she noted. “She has always been there for me and our other friends. She always offers to help with whatever we need.”
Michell is enrolled at El Paso High’s Center for Career and Technology Education program, where she’s studying cosmetology and working toward her state license. She aspires to be a cosmetic surgeon, according to her school’s social media posts. Besides spending hours practicing and performing with the Tigerretes, she worked part time at a smoothie shop and regularly volunteered with seniors.
“She has dreams, she has the potential, character and drive to accomplish them and become a productive member of society. You have a young lady doing everything right – studying hard, taking on extracurricular activities, working, volunteering, helping her community,” said El Paso attorney Veronica Vallejo, an El Paso High School booster and volunteer who has known Michell for at least a year.
“Everything is getting ripped away from her. … This is wrong.. This is bigger than immigration, it’s about a young woman’s life,” Vallejo said, adding that she’s concerned about Michell’s well-being.
The family’s status is unclear, including how long they’ve been in the United States, whether they are seeking asylum or have authorization to be in the country. An Austin law firm reportedly representing the family didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment and information.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
ICE arrests continue to surge across the country – including in El Paso – as President Donald Trump’s administration enforces its mass detention and deportation agenda. The administration has moved to end programs such as temporary protected status and humanitarian parole, at the same time expanding arrests to include people with pending asylum claims or other immigration applications.
Ximena said her friend’s detention brought home the reality of that enforcement.
“She sent me a photo of her in the patrol car and said she was afraid,” Ximena said about when Michell was first arrested, adding she and her teammates cried for hours after hearing about the detention.
PODCAST: Inside El Paso’s ICE arrest surge and the families caught in deportation proceedings
“Since this happened, we see how hurtful this all is. I know a lot of people around school are paying more attention to the news and information about immigration and raids and ICE,” Ximena said. She added that she’s realized how many people are “ignorant and lack empathy because of the hate comments we see online and how they’re happy these things happen. It’s really sad.”
Ximena said she recently had a 30-second call with Michell from Dilley before the call dropped. Michell sounded calm but different, she said, and told her she missed her and her dance team. She also said she hadn’t seen her dad because the family had been separated at the detention center, Ximena added.
Michell and her family, originally from Venezuela, were taken to the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center on Montana Avenue near the airport after being arrested. The next day, they were at the controversial family immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas, south of San Antonio.
The 2,400-bed center, operated by CoreCivic under a $160 million a year federal contract, has faced intense scrutiny, public protests and calls for closure over numerous allegations of human rights violations, including poor water and food quality, unsanitary conditions, medical neglect and limited communication access between detainees and their attorneys or family members.
The prolonged detention of children at Dilley has also come into question as many detainees have surpassed the 20-day limit established by the 1997 federal court ruling known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, which set standards for the detention, treatment, placement and release of children in U.S. immigration custody.
In August, a California federal judge appointed a master and independent monitor at Dilley to oversee compliance with the Flores settlement.
Castro called for ICE to release the family immediately, and called on Democrats to get to work to “shut down the Dilley Trailer Prison and end family detention once and for all.”
Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, echoed a similar sentiment, citing this week’s midterm election that returned control of Congress to Democrats as a way forward. On Facebook, she said a constituent reached out to her for help with the family and in turn she reached out to Castro.
“The election results give us an opportunity to end the cruelty and we intend to do everything possible (to) bring it to an end,” she said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post She should be celebrating Senior Night. Instead, this El Paso teen is in Dilley ICE detention. appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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