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Grisell, a DACA recipient residing in Las Vegas, went to an immigration office to submit her fingerprints and renew her work permit, but before leaving home, she left signed documents and permissions for the care of her minor daughter, prepared for a possible detention.
Telemundo Las Vegas accompanied her throughout the process, documenting the fear and uncertainty that thousands of immigrants experience when attending routine immigration appointments under the aggressive immigration policy of the second Trump administration.
Grisell's fear is not unfounded: there have been documented cases of immigrants being arrested when attending routine renewals or scheduled appointments with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The most recent case involved Venezuelan doctor Rubeliz Bolívar, who was arrested last Friday at the McAllen International Airport in Texas, along with her five-year-old daughter—an American citizen—while they were on their way to an immigration appointment.
Bolívar had a valid work permit and a residence application in progress at the time of her arrest. Her husband, Milenko Faría, stated to Telemundo: "A five-year-old girl should not be going through this."
The girl was released after 16 hours in detention and handed over to her grandparents, while the doctor was transferred to the ICE Valley Detention Center.
The figures reflect the extent of the tightening of immigration policies: as of February 7, ICE had 68,289 people in custody, of which 73.6% had no criminal convictions, according to data from the TRAC monitoring system.
A study from the University of California, Berkeley indicates that arrests without prior criminal records increased by 770%, and those made in public areas increased by 1,000% compared to fiscal year 2024. In January 2026 alone, ICE recorded 39,694 admissions to detention facilities.
The collaboration between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and ICE resulted in over 800 arrests after screening 31,000 travelers at airports, expanding the points of contact where an immigrant can be apprehended.
The outlook for those needing to renew their work permits is further complicated by regulatory changes: the new permits are valid for only 18 months, compared to the previous five years, and renewal fees have increased from $275 to $745 when processed electronically.
The Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule in February that could pause initial work permit applications for asylum seekers and extend the waiting period from 180 to 365 days.
All this is compounded by the fact that there are already 16 immigrants who have died in ICE custody in less than four months of 2026, a figure that exceeds the pace of the previous year when the total annual was 33 deaths.
One in four DACA recipients has children born in the United States, which amplifies the impact of potential deportations on mixed-status families, like Grisell's.
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