ICE’d Out of Public Therapy

Screenshots from an Instagram Story of an event at ICE protests occurring today in Mesa, Arizona, January 30, 2026 that hasn’t been reported on as of the time I am writing this by other mainstream local Arizona media.

The first thing I want to clarify before I do anything else is that I am home today recovering from a mild concussion. I personally am not involved with any protests today, and I am not at home at this time for the purpose of doing so. I got whacked in the head rather forcefully by a ball in a general ed PE class a couple days ago while trying to keep our son Tony from being nocked over by a student trying to catch a pass that didn’t notice where he was because that young man was looking the opposite direction, and Tony himself was looking away from this other kiddo, so he didn’t see him coming right at him. And my eyes were on the two boys and not the ball. Lesson learned, gotta keep an eye on all three, lol. Or not so much, but it is what it is.

The next thing I want to clarify is that my son is a U.S. Citizen. He was born in Glendale, Arizona. And for many months now I have carried a copy of his birth certificate and our adoption papers on me at all times. Why you ask?

In September 2025 the Supreme Court of our country basically said it’s OK to use racial profiling as part of immigration enforcement procedures. And if you’ve seen so much as one picture of our son you know he’s definitely not Caucasian. And there have unfortunately been cases of Autistic teenagers or adults who are U.S. Citizens being arrested or detained by ICE. I am including links for two stories at the bottom of this article of such individuals, and I am asking each of you to listen to their stories if you are not already familiar with them…to hear what is being said by the individuals involved and recognize that there is always the potential for it to be a loved one of yours maybe in the next interview. As I personally have listened to videos and reporting on ICE activities in other states, I have heard comments from agents on video that they felt like certain citizens were illegal because they saw the agents coming and started running.

It shouldn’t be news to anybody here, but if my son saw individuals looking like that coming for him, he would definitely run. Not because he’s guilty of anything, but because it would absolutely terrify him. And, he still struggles to generalize safety instructions to other people. He’s getting better at it, but in school when he’s working with another aide, I am often needed to come reinforce a request for participation or compliance. And he gets scared if I’m out of the classroom more than an hour, telling another teacher he felt “overwhelmed” via his speech device about the time I was outside of his classroom helping another student last week. And he showed signs of agitation and anxiety with increased maladaptive behaviors for days after that, and he was being assisted by a supportive staff member who he knows and is comfortable working with. If detained, his fear and hysteria would be so bad he’d likely need to be sedated. And despite the purchase of a facility in Surprise that ICE has confirmed will be used to hold 1,500 detainees, there’s no guarantee he’d be kept local while we fought for his return in the courts.

More than one member in our family has asked me to avoid public therapy exercises until ICE is no longer operating in our community because of the potential risk for trauma to Tony if he were mistakenly detained. And maybe you are thinking that carrying that birth certificate would be enough, but some of the U.S. Citizens who have been questioned or detained and held in centers have reported that ICE officers felt like their ID’s or other documentation they carried were likely forged. We’ve never gotten a passport for Tony because he doesn’t travel out of the country, and who wants to pay that much money for something they won’t need for any other reason than to have a better chance of avoiding an ICE detention? We may have to, and it’s scary to me as a mother and an Autistic woman that this is how these operations are unfolding.

So for now, we’re still going into school. But public therapy? It’s been ICE’d out of our schedule for now.

“Woman dragged from car by ICE agents speaks out for first time,” interview by CNN. Aliya Rahman, the interviewee, is an Autistic U.S. Citizen with other disabilities and audio-filtering challenges who was drug from her car and detained while driving to her doctor’s office by ICE officers.

“Mother Speaks out after teen with disabilities mistakenly arrested in immigration raid,” interview by PBS news. The interview is conducted with his mother, Andreina Mejia, due to the extent of her son’s disabilities. He is also a U.S. Citizen.