AZ family of hospitalized ICE detainee 'hoping for a miracle'

Andreea Marin, 38, was found unresponsive in her cell at Eloy on Oct. 23, after an apparent suicide attempt, according to her family, citing what officials told doctors at the hospital.

Marin was airlifted to Banner Desert Medical Center that day and has been on life support, in a vegetative state, ever since, her family said. 

They're hoping for a miracle, "but the signs are not there," her family wrote on the GoFundMe page, seeking donations for Marin's medical costs and other expenses.

At Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, immigration officials have kept Marin handcuffed to the hospital bed, her family said on the page.

"Her doctors now tell us her thalamus is severely damaged — and the damage is irreversible," the family wrote. "Her brain went without oxygen for at least ten minutes. She is in a natural coma, in a vegetative state, fighting sepsis, worsening every day. What is left are only brain reflexes — her body cannot live on its own; it is the machines doing the work."

Marin — who was born in Romania, spoke five languages and has a master's degree in education — had moved to the U.S. to be closer to family in Arizona, after years of traveling and teaching English in France with her beloved cat Thomas, the Arizona Daily Star reported last week.

Marin's family said she was in the process of obtaining lawful permanent residency, and eventually citizenship, through a petition by her mother, a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Marin struggled with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, according to her brother, also a naturalized U.S. citizen. Marin's family feared she wasn't getting proper medication or treatment while she was detained at Eloy, about 50 miles northwest of Tucson.

Marin's family said it's "a living torture" to see Marin, who used to "light up the room," unconscious and handcuffed to her hospital bed.

"Our family stays by her side around the clock, taking turns, so she is never alone," Marin's family wrote. "Extended family have come to say their goodbyes. Every day of it is a living torture — watching her in this state, chained to the bed like a criminal. She is innocent and pure. She should never have been there."

ICE response

After the Star's story was published last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe shared an emailed statement, which did not address the Star's questions about whether Marin had been receiving her medication at Eloy.

Neither did Pitts O'Keefe address why Marin had to be held in civil ICE detention at all, rather than be released on humanitarian parole as her immigration case proceeds.

In the email, Pitts O'Keefe said ICE has a "robust grievance system" for detainees to raise issues about their treatment. That's despite the second Trump administration largely dismantling three independent oversight offices for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, in 2025.  

"ICE provides safe, secure, and humane conditions for all individuals in custody, consistent with the Performance-Based National Detention Standards," Pitts O'Keefe said. "Facility staff treat all detainees equally, respectfully, and with dignity."

While Marin was held at Eloy, her family said they couldn't get clear answers from ICE officials about whether Marin was getting her medication, only vague reassurances.  

Pitts O'Keefe said detainees receive medical and mental health screenings within 12 hours of arrival and full assessments within 14 days.

Marin had only been held at Eloy about 10 days when she was found unconscious in her cell Oct. 23. Doctors at Banner told the family that the officials who transported Marin to Banner Desert Medical Center said that Marin had tried to hang herself in her cell.

Her brother told the Star the family wants more answers than just "hearsay." No one in authority with Eloy or ICE has contacted the family with an explanation or to offer condolences, he said. 

It was hospital staff, not ICE, who informed the family — two days after Marin was found unconscious at Eloy — that she had been hospitalized, her brother said.

Marin last entered the U.S. through the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in September 2022, on a valid visa, Pitts O'Keefe said. The visa had an expiration date of March 2023, she said.

Marin's family said her green card application was pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Marin came into ICE custody about one year after she was charged with aggravated assault on a corrections officer, which happened while she was experiencing a manic episode in October 2025, her brother previously told the Star.

Marin missed her October 2026 court hearing in the case because the court sent the notice to the wrong address, prompting a warrant for her arrest, he said.

When Marin was briefly arrested last month, after running a stop sign, a judge quickly rescheduled her hearing due to the "miscommunication," her brother said. But ICE picked up Marin after she left the police station on Oct. 13.

Marin's parents and siblings may do a private autopsy, if Marin dies, in an effort to get answers they haven't received from ICE, her brother said in an email about the family's fundraiser.

"The fund will help cover her care for as long as she fights, a farewell worthy of her if we lose her, and independent answers about what happened to her — including an independent autopsy if the official one is not complete," he said.