After 'heartbreaking' visit with elderly ICE detainee, Rep. Grijalva advocates for her release

U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Tucson said she's advocating for the humanitarian release of Cuban asylum seeker Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old grandmother with dementia who has been detained at Eloy Detention Center for nine months.

Grijalva said she had a "heartbreaking" visit Wednesday with Benitez — known among Eloy detainees as "la abuela," or the grandmother — during the first-term congresswoman's first oversight visit at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.

The Arizona Daily Star reported Sunday on Benitez's case, and the rising number of elderly and disabled detainees in ICE facilities. Benitez often relies on a wheelchair and her dementia has worsened significantly since she's been detained, after surrendering to border agents near Lukeville last May, the Star reported.

Grijalva fought back tears Wednesday as she described the elderly woman's condition. 

"She is incredibly confused," Grijalva told reporters, just after her Eloy visit. "It was heartbreaking because, as we were leaving, she thought we were here to pick her up and take her home."

When Benitez realized she wasn't leaving with her visitors, she began crying, Grijalva said.

"She truly has no idea why she's here," Grijalva said. "You can clearly see she's a very kind person that just really wants to be with her family. ...

"Our office is going to continue to look into this situation and try to do what we can to advocate for her release, because she's not improving medically here. For those of us who know people that are older, that have early-onset dementia, forgetfulness, her being here without family and interaction — she's gonna get worse."

Grijalva said she learned of Benitez's case from the Star's investigation, which highlighted what advocates call "blanket denials" by ICE in response to humanitarian parole requests for vulnerable ICE detainees.

"There are certain cases where there should be consideration of someone's medical condition," Grijalva said. "These blanket denials from this administration are having catastrophic, heartbreaking results for so many people, like abuela."

ICE has not responded directly to the Star's multiple requests for an explanation of why the agency can't, or won't, release Benitez on humanitarian grounds, as her removal case proceeds.

Benitez was denied an immigration court hearing to consider her release on bond, because she is subject to mandatory detention, but ICE still has its own discretion to release her on parole, attorneys say.

An attorney for Benitez is currently appealing the denial of her asylum petition, said Benitez's daughter, Dayana, a lawful permanent resident who lives in Miami.

During Grijalva's DHS-led facility tour, Eloy's director of medical services acknowledged a "dramatic" increase in elderly detainees, Grijalva said.

The Star reported the number of people age 65 and over detained by ICE increased 150% in the first five months of 2025, under President Donald Trump, compared to the same period in 2024, under President Joe Biden. The figure rose from 450 detainees in the five-month period in 2024 to 1,114 detainees last year, according to a Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team analysis of ICE data.

Grijalva said she complied with DHS's requirement to give advance notice before her visit, despite an ongoing lawsuit from more than a dozen legislators challenging the prior-notice requirement. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the contested DHS policy earlier this month. Grijalva said her priority was making the visit happen.

Eloy currently holds about 1,330 detainees, and officials told Grijalva the facility was fully staffed except for two positions, with nine medical providers, Grijalva said.

Grijalva said Eloy appeared clean and sanitary, but said she recognized Eloy officials were "going to put their best foot forward" for a scheduled visit from a lawmaker.

Legislators filed a lawsuit in July in response to DHS's prior-notice requirement, arguing DHS was unlawfully preventing lawmakers from unannounced visits, which are allowed by law, the Associated Press reported.

"The courts have literally said we don't need to (give) notice, and DHS is requiring us to have it. The courts can say one thing, and this administration will throw it all out and do whatever they want anyway," Grijalva said. "... We have the obligation and responsibility of oversight, not just the right to come. We did follow all the rules and processes to get into the facility, and we didn’t have any issue."

Grijalva said ICE's blanket denials of humanitarian parole requests are rooted in "cruelty."

"That’s the only thing I can think of. ... I’ve heard several people in this administration say, 'Well, see, that’ll teach them,'" she said. "I don't know what lesson Julia (Benitez) is supposed to learn, but her being detained is affecting her health, and her mental health especially."

Grijalva won't attend State of the Union speech

Also Wednesday, Grijalva, a Democrat, said she will not attend Trump's Feb. 24 State of the Union speech, instead giving her passes to U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, so Omar can bring family of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman fatally shot by an ICE agent in January.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, has also announced she won't attend the State of the Union. Instead, she'll attend a counter-protest event accompanied by Sonia Almaraz, the long-time partner of a medically vulnerable woman in detention at Eloy, a news release from Ansari's office said.

Arbella "Yari" Rodriguez Marquez has leukemia and has "suffered severe medical neglect" during her 12 months at Eloy, the release said. 

"Every day, I fear a call telling me she didn’t make it. Her health is rapidly deteriorating," Sonia Almaraz said in the release. "She’s lost over 70 pounds, coughs up blood, suffers relentless headaches, and can no longer walk on her own."

In a December statement to The Arizona Republic, ICE accused Rodriguez Marquez of lying about her condition.

"Márquez has been seen by a medical professional, including an oncologist, at least 13 times at Eloy Detention Facility," ICE spokesman Fernando X. Burgos Ortiz told The Republic.

Grijalva said Wednesday she was also able to sit in on a removal hearing at Eloy's in-house immigration court, and planned to visit a detainee at Florence Correctional Center later in the day.

"The human toll, and what's happening to families that are being ripped apart by this administration's inhumane immigration policy, is just painful," she said.