Columbia Heights 11-year-old, mother return to Minnesota following nearly a month in Texas detention center

kstp.com · By Ashley Halbach · 2026-02-05T03:55:57+00:00

The Columbia Heights Public School District said that 11-year-old student Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother are finally going to be reunited with their family in Minnesota after being held for nearly a month at the Dilley detention facility in Texas.The district superintendent said that the girl was the first student in the district taken into detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She and her mother were picked up on their way to school on Jan. 6.The district said that due to a measles outbreak at the Dilley facility, they were unclear exactly when they would arrive home in Minnesota, but ABC News said that they were traveling back home on Wednesday.A number of children in the district have been detained along with a parent. RELATED: Columbia Heights Public Schools: 4 students detained by ICE in recent weeksThat also included 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, who returned home a few days ago after a judge’s order for their release. A photo of Liam wearing a blue bunny hat with an ICE agent holding on to the handle of Liam’s Spider-Man backpack he was wearing was widely circulated and caused outcry.RELATED: 5-year-old and father detained by ICE from Columbia Heights ordered to be releasedRELATED: 5-year-old and father detained by ICE returned to MinnesotaRELATED: Lawyer: Father, 5-year-old son detained in Columbia Heights were legal asylum-seekersOn Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other school leaders held a news conference to address the federal detention of children and the impact it’s having on families and kids.RELATED: Minnesota officials speak out on ICE detaining children, targeting schoolsOn Wednesday, Minnesota school districts and educators sued the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to prevent agents from being near schools.RELATED: Minnesota school districts and educators file lawsuit to block immigration enforcement near schools For Related Stories: ICE Columbia Heights Public Schools