Attorney of detained Tucson DACA recipient disputes DHS claim she assaulted arresting agent

In a Wednesday statement, an unnamed DHS spokesperson claimed Toledo had "illegally entered" the U.S. in 2024, after taking a trip. DHS also claimed Toledo assaulted a law enforcement officer who was "attempting to apprehend another individual" on Monday, without providing evidence.

Toledo's attorney and supporters denied both allegations, citing documentation giving Toledo permission to leave the U.S. for travel in 2024, and citing home-security video from the Monday arrest. 

"DHS is misconstruing and distorting facts," Mo Goldman, one of Toledo's attorneys, told media on Wednesday afternoon. "There is surveillance footage that shows Ms. Toledo did not an assault a DHS officer."

Toledo, who has no criminal record, came to the U.S. from Obregón, Sonora, with her mother when she was 1 year old. Despite having protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, for over a decade, Toledo is now detained at ICE's Eloy Detention Center and facing deportation.

Toledo, 31, was taken into custody after immigration agents forced their way into her home Monday morning as she was getting ready for work.

Agents did not have a judicial warrant for her arrest, making the agents' entry into Toledo's private property a violation of the 4th Amendment, advocates say. 

In its Wednesday statement, DHS claimed agents were trying to arrest "another individual" when they arrested Toledo. But DHS did not identify the other person, and no one else was arrested at Toledo's home.

DHS did not respond to the Arizona Daily Star's follow-up questions on its claims. 

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman told the Star the arresting agents had an "administrative warrant" for Toledo, but she didn't know if agents were also targeting someone else. 

An administrative warrant — which is issued by ICE, and not signed by a judge — doesn't allow for forced entry into private property.

To Goldman, DHS's claim of "another individual" sounds like an attempt to justify the forced entry into Toledo's home by claiming agents were in "hot pursuit" of her husband.

The 4th Amendment generally protects against unlawful searches and seizures, except when a law enforcement officer is in "hot pursuit" of a subject.

But the exception only applies if law enforcement was pursuing someone they have probable cause to arrest, which doesn't appear to have been the case; Toledo's husband wasn't arrested, and the agents didn't appear to know who he was, Goldman said.

"For 'hot pursuit,' they have to have a legal basis to be pursuing an individual. In this situation, the person that they were going after (Toledo's husband), it wasn’t like he was committing a crime," Goldman told the Star. "He was outside his home, he saw them, he got spooked and he ran into the house."

Toledo's husband, who asked that his name not be published, shared with the Star home-surveillance video of agents forcing their way into Toledo's home on Monday, after he ran inside and closed the door to the agents. But the clip does not show the entire encounter with agents.

A longer, but still incomplete, clip posted on social media shows the agents arguing with Toledo when she's still inside her home, as she asks to see a judicial warrant. In the longer clip, an agent claimed they were in "hot pursuit" of Toledo's husband.

But the agents couldn't identify the man when Toledo asked for his name, and left without arresting him, according to the video clip. 

The Star hasn't seen footage that shows the entire encounter between Toledo and the agents.

No 'illegal' entry, attorney said

Toledo received "advance parole" permission to leave the U.S. for travel in 2024. The parole document said in two places that it allowed for multiple trips in and out of the U.S., guaranteeing her re-entry, Goldman said.

"If it (multiple entry) was not permitted, then they should not have issued that document," he said. A Customs and Border Protection officer legally admitted Toledo into the U.S. after her second trip, further contradicting DHS's claim of "illegal entry," Goldman said.

DHS's statement also falsely implied Toledo's DACA status had expired, saying she had "pending application for DACA," he said. 

Toledo's DACA status is valid through July, and she was in the process of renewing it, Goldman said.

DACA recipients must apply every two years to renew their status. Toledo's DACA status was even renewed during the first Trump administration, he said.

U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a Tucson Democrat, was able to visit with Toledo Monday evening, while Toledo was still being held at ICE's Tucson field office on South Country Club Road.

On Wednesday, Grijalva said DHS has "zero credibility" to back up its claims against Toledo and that the agency "cannot be taken at their word."

"This is the same agency that falsely labeled Alex Pretti as a domestic terrorist after murdering him in cold blood in Minneapolis," Grijalva said in a statement. "Smearing people after the fact and gaslighting the public is part of ICE’s playbook whenever they face scrutiny over their actions."

Over the last year, DHS prosecutors have repeatedly had to drop charges against activists and immigrants they’d accused of assaulting officers or impeding law enforcement, after video evidence contradicted their claims.

DHS's statement on Toledo also said ICE had an "active warrant" for her.

In her emailed statement, Grijalva said, "If ICE alleges that Karla assaulted one of their officers, they should immediately release any body camera footage and evidence substantiating that claim. The fact that it took ICE nearly 48 hours to produce this carefully-worded statement — while omitting any explanation regarding the alleged warrant they referenced — raises even more questions about the agency’s credibility and transparency."

Toledo's mother, Veronica Ortiz, told the Star Monday that Toledo is hard-working, passionate about helping others and "a blessing for our family."

"She worked in nonprofit foundations, where she helped families pay rent, pay bills, and have food. She's a valuable member of the community," said Ortiz, as she pleaded for her daughter's release.

Carolina Silva, a friend of Toledo and executive director for Scholarships A-Z, said Toledo "represents the best of her community. ... We're worse off when we lose people like Karla." 

'Dreamers' now targets

DHS has been escalating its efforts to deport DACA recipients in Trump's second administration, Silva said. Last year, ICE detained more than 340 DACA recipients, and least 90 were deported, she said.

"To be honest, it's lazy," Silva said. DACA recipients have willingly shared all their information with the U.S. government to stay in compliance with the program, she said.

"They're not going after criminals. They're not going after people who have final deportation orders. They're just going after people they have access to, like Karla," she said.

In its Wednesday statement, DHS said, "DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime."

While DACA does not confer permanent legal status, the program represents a promise by the U.S. government to defer deportation action against people brought to the U.S. as children before 2007, as long as they submit to fingerprinting and vetting, through the DACA renewal process, every two years, Goldman said.

"The whole idea behind it is based upon prosecutorial discretion," he said.

The Obama-era DACA program was meant as a stopgap measure to temporarily protect immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation, until lawmakers could create a path to citizenship for the group — an idea that used to have bipartisan support.

But 14 years later, U.S. lawmakers have failed to take action on a path to permanency for "Dreamers," which is a broader term that includes those brought to the U.S. as kids without authorization who aren't necessarily enrolled in the DACA program.

Even President Donald Trump previously expressed support for allowing DACA enrollees to stay in the U.S. during a December 2024 "Meet the Press" interview.

Though Democratic members of Congress are still pushing for legislation to protect Dreamers in the long-term, Republicans have been largely silent as Trump's DHS has started arresting and deporting DACA enrollees.

U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Tucson Republican, did not respond to the Star's Wednesday query on whether he still supported a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.

As recently as May 2025, Ciscomani expressed support for a path to permanency for DACA enrollees, but that was before the Trump administration began targeting the group for immigration enforcement last summer.