ICE Detained a U.S.-Born American Citizen and Won’t Release Her: Attorney

By Nick Valencia | December 18, 2025

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND—On Sunday, a U.S.-born American citizen was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in what appears to have been a random encounter outside a Maryland business, according to her attorney.

The woman’s name is Dulce Consuelo Morales Diaz, and she was born in 2003 in Prince George’s County. Today, instead of preparing for Christmas with her family, she is being held inside an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, 1,200 miles away from the hospital where she entered the world as an American citizen.

Her attorney, Victoria Slatton, has handled scores of immigration cases. She has never seen anything like this.

“I am her immigration attorney. I have seen her birth certificate,” Slatton told me. “She has immunization records from when she was a child. They’re from the state of Maryland. I personally called the hospital. They confirmed she was in their system during the time period consistent with her birth. There is no way to manufacture that. It’s an indisputable fact. She is American.”

And yet, ICE took her anyway. Despite knowing she is an American, her attorney said the feds are keeping Morales Diaz in custody. They assigned her an A-Number—an “illegal alien ID”—and gave her a different country of origin: Mexico.

“She wasn’t born in Mexico,” her attorney said.

A Random Encounter, a Racialized Assumption, a Federal Detention

The incident unfolded without warning. Diaz Morales and her sister were leaving a business when ICE agents approached them. There was no active investigation, no warrant, no allegation of assault or interference with federal officers—claims that agencies sometimes cite post-hoc to justify questionable detentions.

“It was very random,” Slatton said. “I don’t see any reason why they would have been targeting her, other than, you know… she was speaking Spanish.”

ICE agents detained her on the spot. According to Slatton, her client told them she was an American citizen—begged them not to take her. They took her anyway.

When I asked whether racial profiling played a role, Slatton was blunt: “She does not present as White.”

The attorney has not yet been able to ask her client directly whether she believes race was a factor. They are only permitted a virtual visit on December 22, but the facts speak loudly enough. In an era of sweeping, appearance-based ICE raids, Spanish plus brown skin is increasingly treated as probable cause.

A Kafkaesque Descent Into the Detention System

Once in ICE custody, the situation escalated rapidly. Agents placed Diaz Morales into immigration removal proceedings, something legally impossible for a U.S. citizen, yet apparently routine enough that ICE processed her anyway.

Slatton immediately submitted her client’s birth certificate along with sworn affidavits from family members present at her birth. She expected ICE to pause, review, and release her.

Instead, the agency transferred Diaz Morales from Maryland to Louisiana, even after a federal judge issued an injunction that, while carefully worded, functionally signaled that she should not be moved.

“I emailed ICE personally,” Slatton said. “I told them, ‘You have made a terrible mistake. Here is overwhelming proof. She is a U.S. citizen. I demand her immediate release. And if you deport her, you are going directly against the judge’s orders.’”

The judge’s ruling prevents deportation while her habeas corpus petition is adjudicated. But it does not free her. It does not bring her home. And it does not erase the trauma her family is living through.

“She’s spending Christmas in detention,” Slatton told me. “I don’t have a lot of hope she’ll be let out before then.”

The Growing List of Americans Detained by ICE

What’s happening to Diaz Morales is not isolated. Civil rights attorneys have documented at least 11 U.S. citizens detained by ICE this year alone—many featured in congressional testimony led by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Robert García. Several of those citizens were later accused of “interference” or “assault” only after video footage contradicted the government’s initial narrative.

But this case stands out in its clarity. No conflicting tribal ID, as in the case of Leticia Jacobo. No language barrier or mistaken identity. No ambiguous paperwork. Just a young American woman, with a verified U.S. birth certificate, detained anyway.

“This might be the first U.S.-born citizen,” Slatton said cautiously. “At least the first I’ve ever seen.”

She pauses. “But given the way these sweeps have been handled… it was an inevitability. You can’t indiscriminately grab people and expect this not to happen.”

A System That Tells Millions of Americans They Don’t Belong

This story hits differently for people whose families crossed borders or who speak with the warmth of two languages in their throat. It hits differently for anyone whose citizenship exists not just as a document but as a question others feel entitled to ask.

“A lot of people in my field feel that way,” she said. “People who help immigrants often do it because they have a personal connection. They’re scared. And I’m glad there’s outrage, because this should outrage everyone.”

What she wants right now is simple: “I just want my client out.”

Nick Valencia News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.