It’s a porch that could be anywhere in Tucson, and the scene in the video is one that is becoming increasingly common. Several federal immigration agents are standing in front of a door and holding a metal screen open.
Then you hear the question from inside: “Where is the warrant? Where is the warrant?”
Video footage shows part of the arrest of longtime Tucson resident Karla Toledo on Monday morning at her home.
The video, shared with Luminaria by Toledo’s family, has become the latest flashpoint in Southern Arizona’s ongoing fight against the increasingly aggressive immigration tactics and policies of the second Trump administration. Advocates argue it’s also a sign of the shifting nature of enforcement that focuses on people with legal immigration status or immigrants who have not committed serious crimes.
Toledo is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA, which gives young immigrants brought to the country as children legal protection from deportation as well as the right to work in the United States.
The arrest of DACA recipients who had no criminal charges was rare under other U.S. administrations. It is among the hallmarks of the second Trump presidency and has introduced a new undercurrent of terror and uncertainty in immigrant communities.
“The intention is to create fear in communities and disempower people to take action,” said attorney River Feldmann, a local movement lawyer who organizes with Red de DefensAZ, a group that supports detained people in Arizona.
The response to Toledo’s arrest was immediate: ScholarshipsA-Z, which works with undocumented youth, called for an emergency protest outside of Tucson’s ICE headquarters. Grassroots defense networks helped mobilize for the rally. And Arizona’s first Latina in Congress, a recently-elected Southern Arizona Democrat, arranged a visit in a Tucson holding facility before Toledo was moved to a detention center.
Toledo’s mother, Veronica Ortiz, said in an interview with Spanish-language news outlet Somos Tucson that her daughter came to Tucson at the age of 1 and has valid DACA status. Ortiz described the fear and confusion of the arrest, stressing that federal agents violated their constitutional rights.
“They didn’t have an order,” said Ortiz in Spanish, tearing up as she described the arrest of her child.
Toledo, 31, is a local influencer who shares information online about biking, fashion and body positivity. Her mom describes the work she did to support struggling families to pay rent and buy food during COVID-19. “She is a hard worker, she was always working for the community,” said Ortiz.
Immigration authorities did not respond to Arizona Luminaria’s request for comment on the reason for Toledo’s arrest and whether they presented a warrant at her home.
Local organizers also have raised concerns about the role of the Tucson Police Department during Monday afternoon’s protest.
Feldmann was on the scene and attempted to let immigration authorities know she could act as a temporary attorney for Toledo. But she wasn’t able to get through a cordon of Tucson Police Department officers, who she says had blocked off entrance to the federal building.
“I presented myself as a lawyer and they refused access,” Feldmann said, noting that lawyers are typically allowed to walk into the facility. Feldmann said she was told to call federal authorities, but no one answered. “I told them that was unconstitutional and a violation of due process rights.”
Lane Mandle, a spokesperson with the city, said that Tucson police responded to the protest activity and the initial officers on the scene referred a person identifying themselves as an attorney to federal officials before department leadership arrived.
“TPD responded to protest activity at DHS’ Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) building yesterday afternoon with orders to preserve people’s right to protest, protect property, and to deescalate as needed,” the statement said. “The City of Tucson will continue to review yesterday’s event and make any procedural changes necessary to ensure safety and individual rights during ICE related activities.”
Feldmann said the incident raises bigger concerns about how Tucson police engage with protesters who are demonstrating against federal activities. “There were only a handful of people protesting calmly when I requested entrance, and allowing me past the tape would not have created any level of disturbance.”
Local activists also questioned the role of police presence at ICE protests during a series of raids at Taco Giro locations last December, which ended in the federal arrest of several community members and pepper spraying protesters, members of the press and U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva.
Shortly after the operation, Mayor Regina Romero and Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz released a statement condemning federal law enforcement actions and clarifying that Tucson officers were not involved.
Tucson officers were dispatched to the scene to close the street and “to keep our residents safe. They were not involved in the use of force against community members,” they wrote.
In January, the Tucson Police Department posted a statement saying they did not enforce federal immigration law but they could also not interrupt or prevent federal operations. “Our role is to uphold local and state laws and protect public safety,” the letter said, noting that officers would display visible Tucson police identifiers and not wear face coverings.
Political officials also joined in the call for Toledo’s release. They raised concerns that ICE came after her for being civically engaged.
“I join the community call to action to release our community member and friend, Karla Toledo,” wrote Santa Cruz in an instagram post Monday. “The Trump administration has emboldened ICE to terrorize and target not only migrants but DACA community members in retaliation for public speech and civic engagement.”
Immigration arrests in Arizona more than tripled in Fiscal Year 2025, with street-level operations in particular becoming a growing presence in neighborhoods and workplaces during the second Trump administration.
The administration’s mass deportation strategy has included arrests of migrant people who were typically left alone so ICE agents could prioritize resources on deporting people who committed serious or violent crimes. In the past year, immigration officials have held children for months in harsh detention conditions, as well as detained U.S. citizens and an elderly woman with dementia in Eloy.
There are 505,940 people with active DACA status as of Sept. 30, 2025, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. An estimated 18,950 of those individuals with active DACA status are in Arizona, the fourth largest rate in the U.S.
Home is Here, a national campaign advocating for DACA recipients, said the Department of Homeland Security has confirmed they have detained 270 DACA recipients, deported 86 DACA recipients, and deported 174 DACA applicants.
“These are our classmates, our neighbors, our friends,” the group says on their website, calling it a coordinated attack on immigrant youth.
The Trump administration’s top border official Tom Homan, speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix earlier this month, defended the administration’s immigration policies, even as recent poll numbers show it has become increasingly unpopular.
“You ain’t seen shit yet. This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming,” he said, speaking at a conference geared to enforcement personnel and companies. “We’re going to flood the zone. You’re going to see more ICE agents (than) you ever seen before.”
Political leaders at the federal level have worked to bring attention to conditions in immigration detention through efforts to visit the centers, and call for policy change to help particularly vulnerable groups.
Congresswoman Grijalva visited Toledo in the Tucson holding location on Monday and called for her immediate release.
“ICE’s blatant disregard for the rule of law and due process is outrageous and completely out of line. We live in a country where everyone has constitutional rights, no matter how hard ICE tries to trample on them,” she said in a press statement. “Karla must be released immediately, and ICE must stop terrorizing our communities.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly has called for a permanent legislative fix to allow Dreamers, a common reference for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children without papers, to work and live safely in the country.
As of Tuesday morning, Toledo remains detained and is expected to have been moved to a detention center in Florence, organizers say. They have created a fundraising page to raise money for legal fees.
Red de DefensAZ attorney Feldmann said it was inspiring to see communities in Tucson coming together, and heartbreaking to think that they had to.
“The goal is to beat us down and make us believe that our neighbors are disposable. Seeing people react this quickly and in this many numbers is a reminder that people are still resisting that propaganda,” she said. “But at the end of the day a person is still detained and sitting in detention and wondering what will be her outcome after building a life here.”
Reporter Carolina Cuellar contributed to this story
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