LSU nursing grad, detained by ICE for 6 months, may self-deport: ‘I feel hopeless all the time’
LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing grad Vilma Palacios was detained by ICE in June 2025.
Vilma Palacios had just graduated from the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing and accepted a job with Touro Infirmary when she was arrested by ICE agents and sent to the processing center in Basile — where she has been detained for six months.
Palacios, 22, said she was deemed ineligible for release on bond and may have no choice but to self-deport to Honduras, a country she fled with her parents when she was 6 years old, and continue waiting for a resolution of her case.
“The only thing now that I want is my freedom back,” Palacios said. “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. And nothing is moving to help me.”
As a child, she had applied for asylum. She had requested a work permit, which she had been granted previously, when ICE agents arrested her in June. She did not have any criminal convictions.
LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing grad Vilma Palacios poses for her graduation photoshoot.
 Photo contributed by Rosemary Cortes
"On June 26, 2025, DHS law enforcement arrested Vilma Nicol Palacios-Fuentes, an illegal alien from Honduras,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. “She freely admitted to being in the U.S. illegally. She will receive full due process. To be clear, work authorization does not confer legal status.”
Friends, family and advocates have protested her detention, emphasizing her contributions to the community and passion for nursing during a national shortage in the field.
“She’s doing it for the right reasons — she’s doing it because she wants to care for people,” Matthew Reese, one of Palacios’ nursing instructors, said. “She’s naturally kind and caregiving and has a compassionate disposition.”
Martha Lowe, her immigration attorney, said Palacios feels depleted, which is why she agreed to voluntary deportation despite having few connections to Honduras.
“I’m a Republican, and this just isn’t flying with me,” Lowe said. “This is terrible.”
Six months in detentionOn June 26, Palacios was attempting to get her routine vehicle inspection sticker when she saw an unmarked car pull up behind her.
ICE agents approached and told her she was under arrest, she said. She was not aware her case had been placed back on the active docket, she said.
She texted her friend from nursing school, Fritza Moise, immediately — two quick messages with the information that she had been detained and was on the phone with her lawyer.
“oh my god, are you by yourself?” Moise texted back, offering to help if she could. “I hope everything’s okay and if you can just give me an update”
Soon after, Palacios’ phone was confiscated. Over the following months, Palacios and her loved ones oscillated between hope, confusion and disappointment as her case encountered setbacks, Moise said.
“After that, it became a lot,” Moise said. “We went through so much in nursing school together, and for me to be starting off my career without her is just so hard.”
Palacios said she has reached a state of emotional exhaustion after months languishing at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. She does not have access to her belongings and spends her days in a dormitory with other detainees, she said.
On multiple occasions, she has had trouble accessing necessities like shampoo and menstrual products, with pads sometimes taking a week to be delivered after requesting them from officers, she said.
“There would be many circumstances like that where we ask for something that we need, and they would just deny it, or we would have to be constantly explaining why and asking them multiple times and asking different officers,” Palacios said.
In a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, McLaughlin denied the description of the conditions at the detention center.
“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE,” McLaughlin said. “All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment — including access to menstrual products, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”
A spokesperson for ICE said the agency is regularly audited and inspected.
“This is the best healthcare that many aliens have received in their entire lives,” a statement from the agency Friday said.
'Unimaginable’A spokesperson for ICE said Palacios has been granted voluntary departure and “will be scheduled for removal to her home in Honduras.” If nothing changes in her case, Palacios said she was told by the judge at her bond hearing that the action would occur before Jan. 14.
“It’s very terrifying trying to picture how my life would be over there,” Palacios said. “It seems unimaginable.”
She and her family are still hoping for a miracle, she said.
“My dream and priority are still to be in this country and create my future here because it’s the only place I have called home,” Palacios said.
McLaughlin praised the self-deportation option at the end of her statement.
“We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home app,” McLaughlin said. “The American taxpayer is generously offering illegal aliens $1,000 and free flight home for the holidays." |
