A newly qualified nurse in Louisiana has spent the last six months in immigration detention, facing potential deportation to a country she left as a young child. Vilma Palacios, 22, a recent graduate of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in June and transferred to a processing centre in Basile, Louisiana.
Arrest and Detention Details
Palacios was arrested on 26 June 2025 while attempting to obtain a routine vehicle inspection sticker. According to her account, agents in an unmarked vehicle approached her and informed her she was under arrest. She immediately texted a former classmate to say she had been detained and was speaking with her lawyer before her phone was confiscated.
She had recently accepted a nursing position at Touro Infirmary when she was taken into custody. Her case is part of a wider immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, which has included individuals with no criminal records who are seeking legal residency.
Life in Detention and Plea for Freedom
In an interview with Nola.com, Palacios described the emotional toll of her prolonged detention. She is held in a shared dormitory, lacks access to her personal belongings, and has reported difficulties obtaining basic hygiene items. She stated that requests for menstrual pads sometimes took up to a week to be fulfilled.
“The only thing now that I want is my freedom back,” Palacios told the outlet. “I don’t want to be enclosed in a space where everything is controlled. I have no power to do anything. I feel hopeless all the time.”
Palacios came to the US from Honduras with her parents at age six and applied for asylum as a child. She had been granted a work permit and was requesting another when arrested. She has no criminal convictions. Her request for release on bond was denied, and she may be forced to voluntarily return to Honduras while her immigration case remains pending.
Official Response and Community Support
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the arrest in a statement. “On June 26, 2025, DHS law enforcement arrested Vilma Nicol Palacios-Fuentes, an illegal alien from Honduras,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs. “She freely admitted to being in the US illegally. She will receive full due process. To be clear, work authorization does not confer legal status.”
DHS separately disputed claims about conditions at the facility, stating it provides “the best healthcare that many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
Meanwhile, her family and immigration advocates have held protests calling for her release. They highlight her contribution to the community and her nursing qualifications, which are in high demand nationally amid workforce shortages.
