Woman granted another year in US after ICE check-in in Cedar Rapids

Woman granted another year in US after ICE check-in in Cedar Rapids

Advocacy group gathers outside ICE office as arrests hit highest monthly total of Trump’s second term

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Heybi Torres walked through the doors of the Cedar Rapids Homeland Security building Tuesday morning unsure whether she would walk back out.

Torres said she thought she was turning herself in to ICE.

“Because last time I was here I had a deportation order. And I was given one more year,” Torres said.

Cheers erupted when she came out, granted another year in America. She said she sees it as another year to work to provide for her family after leaving violence in Honduras.

“I clean houses and I see this as another year to keep growing my business,” Torres said.

Advocacy group gathers outside ICE office

A crowd gathers outside the Cedar Rapids ICE office frequently with advocacy group Escucha Mi Voz, hoping to put pressure on ICE to release people walking through those doors, like Torres.

It comes as recent ICE figures show arrests in the country hit the highest monthly total of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Rogelio Lagunas, with Escucha Mi Voz, said nationwide, ICE has been detaining roughly 50,000 people around the country, and 138 in Iowa. Those numbers are from July.

Of the Iowa arrests, Escucha Mi Voz says almost half had no criminal charges.

“Recently what happened here in Cedar Rapids especially, it’s a lot of construction workers that use to have that TPS protection and this administration took that away,” Lagunas said.

Temporary Protected Status allows people from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. legally during unsafe conditions back home.

Signs of support outside ICE office

Signs reading “No Hate, No Fear” show support for anyone walking through the doors of the ICE office. Torres said the pressure from the group helped her go back home to her family Tuesday instead of adding to the arrest numbers.

“That made a big difference. I don’t feel like I’m alone,” Torres said.

Torres will have to check in again in a year.

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