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‘Nobody deserves to be here’: Former Maryland valedictorian addresses ICE arrest from detention facility as Gov. Wes Moore extends support
Maria Flores Garcia, a former valedictorian at Parkdale High School, was taken into custody during a routine immigration check-in with her mother.
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A University of Maryland student who was the valedictorian at her high school in Prince George's County, who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents alongside her mother last week, has spoken out from an immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Maria Flores Garcia, a former valedictorian at Parkdale High School, was taken into custody during a routine immigration check-in with her mother at an ICE office in Baltimore.
Maria is originally from El Salvador, and came to the US when she was nine years old.
"I'm here with my mom, so that's nice," she told WUSA9, "But you look at your surroundings and you're like, 'Oh my God, nobody deserves to be here. Especially me.'"
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Maria earlier received a full scholarship to the University of Maryland. During her high school graduation, she opened up about the challenges she and her family faced after coming to Maryland from El Salvador, adding that the experiences motivated her to excel academically.
Maria Flores Garcia’s detention
Maria was accompanying her mother to the immigration check-in, and decided to remain with her mom when ICE agents moved to take the woman into custody.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security alleged that the two of them entered the US illegally and were arrested in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 2016, per CBS News. According to DHS, they were placed in removal proceedings but released into the country, adding that an immigration judge issued a final order of removal on February 23, 2021.
“She will remain in ICE custody pending her removal from the United States. This administration will not ignore the rule of law," the DHS spokesperson said.
Maria Flores Garcia speaks out
Maria has now spoken out from where she and her mother are detained.
"I keep thinking, 'Oh, I should be doing this in my math class, or going to my class,'" she told WUSA9.
"Sadly, I'm not the only person that has no criminal record, that has made a life in the United States without hurting anybody that's in here," she added. "There's millions and millions of stories in the cell. Everybody here misses their family."
She alleged that the conditions inside the detention facility were "devastating."
"It's just a big room. You can hear the people coughing. It smells in here," she said.
Maria told CBS News Baltimore that she is trying to remain positive and also support others around her.
"I'm definitely trying to keep my essence and stay true to myself as much as I can," she said. "There's obviously times where I break down because it's devastating being here, knowing that my life outside is on pause. That I didn't do anything to be here."
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore extended his support for Maria in an X post.
“Maria Flores Garcia should be home with her family today,” Moore wrote. “Instead, President Trump’s ICE agents detained Maria – a Marylander, high school valedictorian, and University of Maryland student – as she accompanied her mother to an immigration check-in last week.”
He added, “ICE isn’t rounding up “the worst of the worst.” This is just pure cruelty for cruelty’s sake. If the President is actually serious about wanting to work with the incoming Democratic majority on an immigration deal, he must end ICE’s attacks on our communities and our people like Maria.”
