Jacinta Gonzalez, a naturalized American who was born in Mexico, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Saturday after she and two other members of the Puente Human Rights Movement were arrested on Shea Boulevard in the Phoenix, Arizona, suburb of Fountain Hills for stopping traffic in order to prevent people from attending a local rally for Donald Trump.
The road-blocking protest, which can be seen in the ABC15 video above, successfully caused traffic chaos, before Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office dispered the protest and arrested Gonzalaz, Michael Cassidy and Stephany Laughlin.
Gonzalez was held overnight by local ICE officials and released Sunday, after which she made a video outside the ICE building and asserted that her detainment was due entirely to her last name making her an easy target. Cassidy and Laughlin were not held by ICE.
“The two others were able to go home, but because of my last name I was questioned by ICE and transferred to their custody,” Gonzalez said in the video.
ICE issued a statement to ABC15 about Gonzalez’s detainment: “Ms. Gonzalez-Goodman was recently released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after database checks determined she currently holds a valid United States passport.
Under current ICE procedures, all foreign-born individuals who are booked into the Maricopa County Jail are interviewed by ICE personnel to determine alienage and removability and whether they would be an enforcement priority for the agency.”
See her video below.