A Goleta grandmother whose immigration case once drew national attention has been detained again, according to her family.
Relatives say Juana Flores was taken into custody on Wednesday during what they believed was a scheduled check-in at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Santa Maria. Flores has been required to check in every few months since returning to the United States under humanitarian parole in 2021.
Her daughter, Elizabeth “Ellie” Gastinell, says the detention was unexpected.
“I didn’t know she had a check-in today and they just decided to take her to Homeland Security, which is where they took her last time,” she said. “We asked if she could do a voluntary leave of removal and they told her no, that they have to take her to the Los Angeles office.”
Flores was deported in 2019 after more than three decades living in the United States and raising ten children, including a son serving in the U.S. military. Her return two years later and advocacy efforts led her to Washington, D.C., where she appeared alongside Congressman Salud Carbajal to support the Protect Patriot Parents Act, a bill aimed at offering legal protections to undocumented parents of service members.
Gastinell says the family recently submitted a request to renew humanitarian parole, but it was denied. She says a separate military parole request is still pending.
“She did have a military parole application and that was pending, which we have been trying to get approved,” she said. “And there’s also the Patriot Parents Act, which had been approved by the House before, but since there’s a new administration, we had to re-amp it again.”
Gastinell says she rushed to the Santa Maria office with her children after learning her mother had been detained but was not allowed to see Flores before she was transported.
Holding back tears, she said the family has experienced immigration enforcement before, but it "doesn’t hurt any less.”
“You would think that during the holidays, it would be spending time with family and just enjoying time together,” she said.
With Thanksgiving just one day away, Gastinell says the timing has been especially difficult for Flores’ grandchildren.
“My oldest, she’s eight, I was trying to explain to her while we were driving over and she immediately started crying because it’s her grandmother,” she said. “She said she doesn’t want to forget her.”
KSBY News has reached out to ICE for confirmation of Flores’ detention, transfer location, and current legal status. We have not yet received a response.
