11-Year-Old Elizabeth Released From Texas Detention Center

When Tracy Xiong stood at a microphone Tuesday morning and told Elizabeth's story, she didn't know that same afternoon would bring the news everyone had been hoping for.

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, just 11 years old, was heading to her Columbia Heights elementary school with her mother on a January morning when ICE agents stopped them. The girl's father rushed to the school when Elizabeth called, and ICE told him his daughter would be dropped off there soon.

School staff waited outside for hours. No one ever came.

Instead, Elizabeth and her mother were flown to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, more than 1,200 miles from home. Xiong, a social worker at Highland Elementary, spent that day making desperate phone calls trying to locate the child.

"I watched him sit in his car, bury his head in his hands and cry uncontrollably," Xiong said of Elizabeth's father during a press conference with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Those words reached far beyond the room where she spoke them.

Hours later, Elizabeth and her mother were released. Their lawyer confirmed they planned to spend one night in Texas before relocating, though their asylum case remains open.

Why This Inspires

Elizabeth's release shows what happens when communities refuse to stay silent. A school social worker spoke up for a missing student, educators stood together, and officials listened.

The family had been following the legal immigration process with an attorney representing them in their active asylum case. They had no criminal history and were simply living their lives while navigating the system as intended.

Bobby Painter, managing attorney for the Texas Immigration Law Center who worked on the case, emphasized this point: "We're not just detaining criminals. It's working families enrolled in schools who are working through our immigration system the way they're allowed."

While Elizabeth heads home, her school community continues supporting other families navigating similar fears. Teachers coordinate food deliveries for families afraid to leave their homes and arrange safe transportation for children.

The exhaustion is real, but so is the commitment. Students who once missed school because of colds now stay home fearing deportation, and educators are adapting to this new reality with remarkable resolve.

Tonight, Elizabeth sleeps knowing she's one day closer to her classroom, her friends, and the father who waited for her outside the school that January day.