ICE releases 'la abuela,' 79-year-old asylum seeker, after Arizona Daily Star investigation
Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker, gets to talk to her daughter from the back seat of the vehicle that picked her up Thursday night from the Eloy Detention Center after her release. She was held nine months by ICE as her physical and cognitive health deteriorated.
Kelly Presnell
Photojournalist
As featured on
After 9 months detained at an Arizona ICE detention facility, a Cuban grandmother and asylum seeker with dementia is free, pending the outcome of her deportation case.
After praying and weeping every day for months, Dayana Cosme Benitez said she’s overwhelmed …
Second wall planned across Arizona as Trump administration doubles down on border
