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Mexican tile installer detained by unmarked ICE convoy in Phoenix, coerced into voluntary departure

Jan 5, 2026·Location: Phoenix, AZ

Country of origin: Mexico

Ramón Barraza, a 60-year-old Mexican national who worked as a certified public accountant in Mexico and had spent two decades installing ceramic tile floors in Phoenix, was pulled over by unmarked SUVs while driving to a job site in Maryvale. Plainclothes agents with no visible identification surrounded his truck, addressed him in Spanish, and told him 'you're the one we came for' before handcuffing him and taking him to ICE's Central Avenue processing office. He was held for 26 hours in an overcrowded, windowless cell with about 25 people, given only a frozen bean burrito every six hours and no water or fruit, and an agent later pressured him to sign a voluntary departure form the agent prepared himself.

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