UPDATE (11:00 p.m.)
Loved ones and the legal team for Karla Toledo held a news conference May 20 outside Tucson's ICE field office demanding her release from the Eloy detention center and rebutting DHS' claims.
This all comes after Toledo's family says ICE agents forced themselves in Karla's home Monday morning.
KGUN 9 obtained doorbell camera video of the incident from the family. Her attorney telling us Toledo's husband was followed by agents into their home.
Mo Goldman with Goldman Immigration PC, who is representing Toledo, stood alongside Karla's friend and Scholarships A-Z coworker Carolina Silva, answering questions and providing information of what the next steps are.
"Have you seen the video? If you have seen the video, it is clear that Karla did not assault or physically harm anybody when there were three armed agents, two of which like aggressively stepped into her home. So I find it a stretch," Silva said.
Silva went on to say that Toledo did everything she was supposed to do.
"She put her hands behind her back, she followed them, and she did everything you're supposed to do when you're in the situation. Karla knows her rights. She's a trained observer and volunteer with different groups in the community. She did everything right," Silva said.
When asked what the next steps are, Goldman said this is where it gets a little bit into the weeds. He says when you go into immigration court, there are only limited ways to fight your deportation.
"We have to submit a request for a bond hearing, also known as a custody redetermination hearing. What makes it tricky is that she was admitted on advance parole, Goldman explained. "And so we have to determine whether or not she's going to be eligible for a bond. We have to see if a judge will even find that they have jurisdiction and then we have to try to figure out what sort of relief she will be availed to."
According to her attorney and family, Toledo has lived in the U.S. since she was 1 year old and is a DACA recipient. Goldman says unfortunately, the administration doesn't care about that.
"The US Citizenship and Immigration Service, USCIS, is now taking people who apply for affirmative applications and turning them over to ICE and sending them into removal proceedings for ridiculous reasons and so people need to be aware that they are paying oftentimes exorbitant filing fees to a service that they're not receiving," Goldman said. "Instead they're getting basically stabbed in the back by the government and sent into a situation where they will potentially be deported."
Goldman and Silva say Toledo has been doing her part because her previous DACA was renewed by the Trump administration.
"Back in December 2024, Donald Trump said he would protect DACA recipients and not deport them and so did Juan Ciscomani. And at this point, you know you can't trust Trump and the Trump administration to their word on protecting DACA recipients," Goldman said. "But my question is, where is the representative and why is he not out openly speaking about this, being that he was an immigrant himself."
Toledo's friends and family say she did not deserve this. They say she's involved in her community, works at a local non-profit, serves as an interpreter, and is a great role model.
"I feel lucky to call Karla a friend. I feel lucky to have her in my community, and I think we're actually worse off when we lose people like Karla, right?," Silva said.
Karla's mother, Veronica Ortiz, was in tears at the conference, begging for Karla's freedom and thanking everyone for the support.
"My daughter needs to be released. She is a good person. She works very hard in the community. What more can I say. She's a great daughter and wonderful sister," Ortiz said.
Goldman says he will be visiting Toledo on Friday.
UPDATE (5:00 p.m.)
Congresswoman Adelita S. Grijalva released the following statement in response to ICE’s statement:
This was also said in a press release:
“If ICE alleges that Karla assaulted one of their officers, they should immediately release any body camera footage and evidence substantiating that claim. The fact that it took ICE nearly 48 hours to produce this carefully-worded statement — while omitting any explanation regarding the alleged warrant they referenced — raises even more questions about the agency’s credibility and transparency.
“Despite Trump’s promise to target ‘the worst of the worst,’ this administration is going after young people brought to this country as children through no fault of their own, including DACA recipients who have been granted legal authorization by the federal government to work in the United States. This is the ultimate betrayal and is a new low – even for Trump. Karla must be released immediately.”
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The Department of Homeland Security is now weighing in on a situation caught on camera, where ICE agents appeared outside a home and ending the situation with taking a woman in for detainment.
Doorbell camera video obtained by KGUN 9 shows ICE agents appearing outside Karla Toledo's home Monday morning in what appears to be a confrontation between agents and Toledo. The video is only a portion of Monday morning. In it, ICE agents pull up to the home and get out when a man sees them and hurries what appears to be inside. Toledo's family says agents forced themselves inside the home.
RELATED STORY: Woman detained by ICE, mother says daughter was DACA recipient
According to a DHS spokesperson, "On May 18, 2026, ICE arrested Karla Toledo, an illegal alien from Mexico, during a targeted immigration enforcement operation near Tucson, Arizona. During the operation, Toledo assaulted a law enforcement officer—a felony and crime—that was attempting to apprehend another individual."
In the statement, DHS says Toledo illegely entered the country October 12, 2024 and was released into the U.S. by the Biden Administration. According to Toledo's mother, she was a DACA recipient. DHS does confirm that at the time of Toledo's arrest she had an active warrant and a pending application for DACA.
DHS went on to say Toledo will remain in ICE custody pending her removal proceedings. "Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of DACA are not automatically protected from deportations. DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country," the DHS spokesperson wrote to KGUN 9. "Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”
Arizona Representative Adelita Grijalva did meet with Toledo while she was in custody. "I asked her if she was OK, and she said she was OK...I think that she's really strong and trying to figure out from here on where she goes," Grijalva said. "This space is only a holding space for 6 to 12 hours, so she will be going somewhere else."
Toledo's mother, Veronica Ortiz, said she wants her daughter released. "I'm really worried about her. I don't want her to go to Florida. Or sent to Mexico," Ortiz said.
