{"id":156,"date":"2026-05-28T18:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:34:35","slug":"tempe-students-protest-ice-detention-of-classmate-outside-of-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=156","title":{"rendered":"Tempe students protest ICE detention of classmate outside of school"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Tempe students walked out of Cecil Shamley School to protest the detention of one of their classmates by Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside the school a day earlier.<\/p>\n

Read more You\u2019ll soon be able to ride Waymo\u2019s new Ojai model robotaxi for free<\/a><\/p>\n

Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, ICE detained 14-year-old Dilan Manay Paredes outside the K-8 school near North Miller and East McKellips roads. Paredes was in eighth grade and set to be \u201cpromoted\u201d to high school in a few days. The school\u2019s principal, Bronwyn Sternberg, wrote in a letter to parents that federal agents didn\u2019t enter the school and Paredes\u2019 mom \u201csigned the student out of school in accordance with school procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paredes and his mother, 47-year-old Margot Paredes Ortiz, have been taken to Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas, according to Rep. Greg Stanton and state Sen. Lauren Kuby, who represent Tempe. The controversial family detention facility is one of two in the country. Since its reopening in 2025, the facility has been marred by accusations of poor food quality and limited access to medical care and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis family should be home tonight, celebrating their son\u2019s 8th grade promotion,\u201d Stanton wrote in a social media post, \u201cnot in federal detention hundreds of miles away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

ICE has not responded to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Paredes\u2019 detention inspired students to walk out of the small school, which has an enrollment of 540 students across nine grade levels. At the walkout, one of Paredes\u2019 friends \u2014 14-year-old eighth-grader Alan Esquer \u2014 recounted to Phoenix New Times how Paredes was called out of class to meet his mother outside during second period.<\/p>\n

Paredes\u2019 face initially lit up when he saw his mom was calling, but his smile quickly faded as his mom shared that she\u2019d been picked up by ICE in a Walmart parking lot. She\u2019d skipped an immigration check-in due to fear of arrest and deportation. Esquer recalled that Paredes\u2019 mom told her son over the phone that she was coming to the school with ICE agents to pick him up because she didn\u2019t want to leave him.<\/p>\n

Esquer said that Paredes began to cry after he hung up the phone. He then said a \u201cbad word in Spanish\u201d to Esquer and said, \u201cThey got my mom,\u201d Esquer recalled. Paredes then went to the principal\u2019s office, where he sent Esquer several texts in Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust tell them I\u2019m gonna miss you guys,\u201d Paredes wrote to Esquer in Spanish in an Instagram message. \u201cI love you guys a lot. They\u2019re outside. They might send me back to my country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paredes\u2019 detention has left his friends scared and angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know where he is. He hasn\u2019t texted us,\u201d said classmate Angelique Soto-Martinez through tears. \u201cHe was just a kid here and he was so excited to promote. He was so excited to go to high school, and now he\u2019s just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Promotion ceremony restrictions<\/h2>\n

Clarissa Vela, the founder of PeopleFirstProject, said Paredes\u2019 family traveled to Arizona in 2023 from Ecuador to seek asylum, turning themselves in at the border. Vela wasn\u2019t familiar with the details of their asylum case. She added that Paredes Ortiz\u2019s two older sons, both in their mid-20s, were also detained on Tuesday as they rushed to their mom\u2019s aid in the Walmart parking lot. Both are married with children. Paredes\u2019 father was deported to Ecuador two years ago.<\/p>\n

Read more Arizona police board to probe state trooper who lied about tasing man<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Paredes\u2019 classmates described him as a short, funny ball of energy, an athletic soccer player who was always making his friends laugh. One of Paredes\u2019 friends, Chris Solis, said he was a \u201cbit of a troublemaker, but not that much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good person, really good,\u201d Solis added. \u201cHe didn\u2019t deserve this, really.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside the school on Wednesday afternoon, nearly 40 students and parents gathered to protest Paredes\u2019 detention. Protesters chanted \u201cWhere is Dilan?\u201d and called for ousting Sternberg, who students said canceled eighth-grade \u201cpromotion\u201d events after they began speaking out about Paredes.<\/p>\n

Though rumors had spread that Paredes was detained inside the school, that does not appear to be the case. Tempe Elementary School District spokesperson Monica Allread told New Times in an email that Paredes\u2019 mom and federal agents were near the school building Tuesday morning but that her detention \u201cdid not take place on school property.\u201d Nonetheless, Sternberg acknowledged how the detention had shaken the school community in her letter to parents.<\/p>\n

\u2018We understand that this situation has caused concern for students, families, staff and community members,\u201d Sternberg wrote. \u201cWe are focused on maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure safety,\u201d Sternberg wrote, parents and guests would not be able to attend Thursday\u2019s eighth-grade promotion ceremony. The ceremony will instead be recorded and shared with parents, who can pick up their children afterward. \u201cThis change may be disappointing for some families,\u201d Sternberg wrote. \u201cHowever, we feel it is truly in the best interest of our students and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Parents outside the school were more than disappointed. Dalia Jimenez, a 30-year-old mother of two Cecil Shamley students, said she found out ICE was outside her kids\u2019 school from a text from her daughter. She was \u201cpissed off\u201d because \u201cmy kid shouldn\u2019t be the one telling me all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really sad that the school is allowing this. This should be a sanctuary and a safe place,\u201d said Jimenez, who attended Cecil Shamley as a student herself. \u201cThis community is built on immigrants and we\u2019re allowing families to be pulled out and taken out of state, or wherever they\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Map: Where ICE has been seen in Phoenix so far<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ICE arrested Dilan Paredes’ mom at a Walmart. She then signed the eighth-grader out of his Tempe school, where ICE arrested him, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"\nTempe students protest ICE detention of classmate outside of school - Phoenix Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=156\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tempe students protest ICE detention of classmate outside of school - Phoenix Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ICE arrested Dilan Paredes' mom at a Walmart. 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