UMD Student, Former Maryland Valedictorian Speaks Out From ICE Detention Facility

A University of Maryland student and former high school valedictorian is speaking from a Louisiana immigration detention facility after being taken into custody alongside her mother.

Maria Flores Garcia, who graduated as the 2026 valedictorian at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County, was detained last week during a routine immigration check-in at an office in Baltimore.

“I’m here with my mom, so that’s nice,” Flores Garcia told WUSA9, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. “But you look at your surroundings and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, nobody deserves to be here. Especially me.’”

Flores Garcia came to the United States from El Salvador when she was 9 years old. During her high school graduation, she spoke about the challenges her family faced after arriving in Maryland, noting those experiences motivated her to excel academically and earn a full scholarship to the University of Maryland.

Detention After Check-In

When ICE agents moved to take her mother into custody during the Baltimore check-in, Flores Garcia chose to remain with her. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that Flores Garcia and her mother entered the United States illegally and were arrested in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 2016.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, they were placed in removal proceedings and released into the country before an immigration judge issued a final order of removal on Feb. 23, 2021.

“She will remain in ICE custody pending her removal from the United States. This administration will not ignore the rule of law,” the DHS spokesperson said.

Flores Garcia described the facility conditions as devastating, noting that she hears people coughing and smells the interior of the large room. “I keep thinking, ‘Oh, I should be doing this in my math class, or going to my class,’” she told WUSA9.

“There’s obviously times where I break down because it’s devastating being here, knowing that my life outside is on pause,” she told CBS News Baltimore. “That I didn’t do anything to be here.”

Governor Wes Moore Responds

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore criticized the enforcement action in a social media post, arguing that federal agents are not focusing solely on individuals with serious criminal records.

“Maria Flores Garcia should be home with her family today,” Moore said on Wednesday. “Instead, President Trump’s ICE agents detained Maria – a Marylander, high school valedictorian, and University of Maryland student – as she accompanied her mother to an immigration check-in last week.”

“ICE isn’t rounding up ‘the worst of the worst.’ This is just pure cruelty for cruelty’s sake,” Moore said. “If the President is actually serious about wanting to work with the incoming Democratic majority on an immigration deal, he must end ICE’s attacks on our communities and our people like Maria.”

Flores Garcia remains in custody pending removal.