Francoise Makuiza was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement early Friday morning as she was leaving her neighborhood to go to work at an assisted living facility in Portland, her lawyer said.
Attorney Kristine Hanly filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Maine on the same day Makuiza was detained, to ensure that Makuiza receives a bond hearing in immigration court.
ICE has not yet responded to the petition. Hanly said in a phone call Monday that a background check revealed her client has no criminal history in Maine.
“She applied like she’s supposed to, and followed the steps like she’s supposed to,” Hanly said. “She’s just been living with her family, working.”
Makuiza has lived in Maine for more than 12 years and is the mother of a U.S. citizen, Hanly said. She said Makuiza was previously granted refugee status by Colombia after fleeing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Makuiza and her family had to leave Colombia after one of her children was threatened and they were subjected to “horrific assaults,” Hanly said.
Makuiza arrived in the United States on a visa, Hanly said, and has been waiting for a final determination on her asylum request since participating in an interview with immigration officials last summer.
Hanly said Makuiza’s case and others contradict messaging from the Department of Homeland Security that the operation is targeting people with criminal histories who are the “worst of the worst.”
“This is a mom who’s already been subjected to assaults and life-threatening conduct in two different countries now, and came here to make a life for her family,” Hanly said.
On Monday, the department reported that ICE agents have detained more than 200 people in Maine. Those arrested have included asylum-seekers complying with orders from immigration officials, including Yanick Joao Carneiro, who was arrested by ICE agents during a routine check-in at the agency’s field office in Scarborough.
ICE has also detained immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens. One woman told the Press Herald last week that she and her husband, Marco Da Silva, a Brazilian citizen, had been waiting for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve paperwork adjusting his status when he was detained by ICE.
A GoFundMe for Makuiza had already raised more than $900 by Monday to support her family.