Immigrant rights advocates gathered across the street from the HCA Florida Poinciana hospital in Kissimmee on Friday to demand accountability for an Ecuadorian mother and daughter who were arrested at the hospital last week on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, 19, were questioned by Polk County sheriff’s deputies about their legal status at the hospital Thursday, Aug. 20, after being transported to the hospital by ambulance for injuries sustained in a car crash. “It was a very severe accident,” one family member told Newsweek. “The car was completely totaled.”
The two women entered the U.S. legally in 2023 and 2025, respectively, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but allegedly overstayed their period of “legal admission,” CNN reported, prompting ICE to issue detainers for their arrest.
Video footage of the Central Florida deputies questioning, then attempting to separate the women as they shrieked in panic and confusion, went viral last weekend on social media.
“We are here to say shame!” said Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, organizing director for the Hope CommUnity Center and a leader of the local Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition, speaking at the press conference Friday.
“We are here to give a voice, to protest the thousands of U.S. Americans who have watched in horror the video of these deputies heartlessly cuffing two patients in the middle of receiving medical care,” she said.
“We are here to encourage our fellow Central Floridians to call on their local, state and federal legislators to end the coordination with the unlawful ICE enforcement, and to focus instead on rebuilding the community trust that is being breached by ICE activities across the United States.”
Arrest affidavits show that Calero Cabanilla and Carriel both lived in Kissimmee and had no prior criminal history or gang affiliation.
A Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told Orlando Weekly that, after arriving at the crash site to obtain information from those involved, “it was discovered that the driver is in the United States illegally from Ecuador after overstaying an expired visa by several years.”
“Deputies then discovered that the adult daughter of the driver who had also been involved in the crash was also in the country illegally, also on a multi-year expired visa,” the spokesperson added. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued detainers for both women, and after the women were discharged from the hospital, they were taken into custody and transported to the Polk County Jail.”
Family members of the pair dispute these allegations, however. They say the mother has a pending asylum case and a work permit, while her 19-year-old daughter has a visa that is valid until 2030.
“To be in an emergency room following a car accident that we have all seen, and to be permitted to be taken out as if they were criminals — where is the humanity?” asked Gia Calero, sister of Calero Cabanilla and aunt to Carriel, speaking at the press conference. “Where are their human rights? We want to know how. We want answers.”
Gia confirmed to reporters Friday that her sister and niece nonetheless made the difficult decision last Tuesday to self-deport back to Ecuador, despite ongoing threats to their safety there.
According to family, Calero Cabanilla was concerned about her daughter’s health and safety in ICE detention, if the two were to remain in federal custody. Family members say that Giulianna has epilepsy and experienced several seizures in the hospital on the day of her arrest.
“This never was anything political,” Gia argued. “It was about a mother wanting to be with her daughter.”
Representatives of U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, State Rep. Jose Alvarez (D-Kissimmee), social advocacy group Florida Rising, and the labor union Unite Here Local 737 were also in attendance at the press conference.
“We ask Sheriff [Grady] Judd to ensure that humanity is reflected in the actions of every officer who serves under him, and to ensure that no one should be afraid to seek emergency care, and that HCA needs to provide transparency, accountability, and an explanation of what they will do to prevent this from ever happening again,” said Gomez-Tejeda.
Immigration-related arrests have soared in recent months — reaching nearly 50,000 ICE-related arrests in July alone — as part of a mass deportation agenda pursued by the Trump administration.
Florida, in fact, leads the nation in the number of agreements ICE has with local law enforcement agencies — also known as 287(g) agreements — which allow local cops, like Polk County sheriff’s deputies, to arrest and detain immigrants on behalf of ICE. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Orlando Police Department have similar agreements in place.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, a hardline Republican and Trump ally, earlier this year shocked many by calling for a “path forward” for unauthorized immigrants who are “doing good and … not a drag on society.”
“We are outraged by the detention tactics used by the Polk County deputies under Sheriff Judd, who just five months ago called for a pathway to legal status for the hardworking immigrants in our communities, and reminded us that we are a country of immigrants,” said Gomez-Tejeda.
Judd’s office still directs deputies to routinely screen those they come into contact with through federal databases to serve ICE detainers upon the request of federal authorities, according to WFTV.
The family of Calero and Carriel have set up a GoFundMe to support the mother and daughter and help cover the cost of medical bills and legal counsel. The GoFundMe has a goal of $20,000 and has raised just over $11,500 as of publication.
