Deported Mother Sues Over ‘Traumatic’ ICE Arrest

By Mona Mahadevan, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — (Updated) One year and six days after masked federal immigration agents detained Nancy Martinez in front of her kids in the Hill, Martinez has filed a lawsuit seeking redress for the trauma caused by that arrest.

That legal complaint was filed in federal court and announced on Monday by the Yale Law School’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic.

“It pains me to know I cannot give my daughter a hug after she walks across the stage or help with her hair on her milestone birthday [quinceanera],” Martinez said through a translator on Zoom on Monday.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Mayor Justin Elicker, and National Immigration Law Center President Kica Matos were among the speakers at Monday’s press conference, which took place in a Yale Law School classroom.

On June 9, 2025, Martinez — who was 37 at the time — was detained while taking her 13-year-old daughter Monse and 8-year-old son to school.

According to Michael Wishnie, a law professor and the plaintiff’s supervising attorney, she spent around a month in immigration detention before being deported to Mexico City.

Martinez, who is originally from Mexico, has lived in the U.S. for 15 years. On Monday, she recounted the June 2025 arrest outside of her Hill home.

Moments after her kids buckled their seatbelts, masked federal agents surrounded her car and placed her in “tight handcuffs,” said Martinez. She was placed in the back of a vehicle. She only understood that she was being deported when an agent motioned a plane taking off with his hands.

“Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw looking out the window,” she said through a translator. Monse and her brother were clinging to each other and sobbing, “crying out for me as I got farther and farther away.”

The complaint, filed in Connecticut’s U.S. District Court, alleges that her son has transformed from a “bubbly child” into a nine-year-old who regularly interrupts class with sobs. Monse, now 14, has become “a shell of herself, uncharacteristically irritable, reticent, and withdrawn.” Martinez herself has started taking antidepressants and sleep medication to cope with being separated from her children.

The lawsuit seeks redress from the United States “for the abusive manner in which the agents abducted Ms. Martinez off the street, the terror and trauma they inflicted on her family, and the reckless disregard the agents demonstrated for her and her children.”

The plaintiffs also claim that the agents employed “scare tactics” with the intention of intimidating Martinez and other migrants. They cite quotes from President Donald Trump, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to show that federal agencies aim to “create an atmosphere of fear” that discourages migrants from asserting their legal rights.

The complaint also says ICE targeted New Haven to “punish” the city for being a sanctuary jurisdiction.

“One second she was standing next to me. The next second agents were taking her away,” Monse said during Monday’s press conference. She teared up as she spoke about how her brother has been affected by their mother’s deportation. “He is constantly scared, and he never wants to leave my side,” she said.

“The administration said it was gonna be deporting the worst of the worst,” Blumenthal said. “Nancy Martinez did everything right. ICE did everything wrong.”

DHS did not respond to requests for comment by the publication time of this article about why masked agents forcibly detained Martinez instead of issuing a notice to surrender for deportation. (In a Tuesday afternoon comment, a DHS spokesperson said that the claims in Martinez’s lawsuit are “blatantly false.” See more below.)

Martinez had been attending state court hearings in the months prior to her arrest, according to the complaint. In March 2025, she was arrested by city police and charged with Assault in the Third Degree and Breach of Peace in the Second Degree following an altercation with her sister-in-law over a babysitting dispute. According to the lawsuit, the state dropped all charges in exchange for Martinez attending anger management classes, which she began on May 12, 2025.

“Monse, you are a badass. Your courage, both when it came to fighting for your mom and protecting your brother, is nothing short of remarkable,” Matos told Martinez’s daughter on Monday. “Arresting a mother in front of her children and leaving [them] along on the street — that is not law enforcement. That is cruelty in uniform.”

DHS: “ICE Does Not Separate Families”

At 3:48 p.m. Tuesday, an anonymous DHS spokesperson sent the Independent the following email comment:

“The claims in this lawsuit are blatantly false.

“On June 9, 2025, ICE arrested Nancy Martinez-Zarco, a criminal illegal alien, in Hartford, Connecticut. Her criminal history includes assault and breach of peace. During the arrest, ICE officers identified themselves, informed Martinez-Zarco of the warrant for her arrest and took her into custody. Before departing the scene, officers confirmed that Martinez’s mother was home and would be able to look after her children.

“ICE does not separate families. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement.

“Being in detention is a choice. Parents can take control of their departure with the CBP Home app and reserve the chance to come back the right legal way. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”

This article has been updated to include a comment from DHS.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.