Couple with U visa protections detained eight months by ICE, lose home and jobs
Apr 2026·Location: Tulsa, OK
Country of origin: Mexico

On August 27, 2025, Vasquez (49) and Ramirez (40), a married couple from Mexico, were arrested by ICE during a traffic stop in Tulsa despite having pending U visa applications and federal deportation protections as crime victims who assisted law enforcement in prosecuting a serial rapist. Ramirez was held for four months at Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas, where she was denied access to seizure medication for her epilepsy. Vasquez was detained for over seven months at a CoreCivic facility in Cushing, Oklahoma, and attended 13 immigration court hearings before winning a habeas corpus lawsuit granting him a bond hearing. The prolonged separation and detention resulted in job loss, eviction from their home in Broken Arrow, and approximately $12,000 in accumulated legal debt. Vasquez was released in April 2026 on deferral of removal grounds, followed by Ramirez's release. Both remain without legal status and are working to recover financially while awaiting U visa hearings.
Timeline
Sources
- How an unwarranted immigration arrest began unraveling one Tulsa couple's life
publicradiotulsa.org·Jun 23, 2026·archived copy
- Immigration detention, court delays and judicial fate-making: A Tulsa couple's experience
publicradiotulsa.org·Jun 23, 2026·archived copy
- KOSU
- How one Tulsa couple's immigration detention cost them everything but hope
tulsaflyer.org·Jun 24, 2026·archived copy
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