8 June 4th - June 10th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | “Just tell them I’m gonna miss you guys,” Paredes wrote to Esquer in Spanish in an Instagram message. “I love you guys a lot. They’re outside. They might send me back to my country.” In a statement to New Times, ICE spokesperson Fernando X. Burgos wrote that ICE arrested Paredes Ortiz “following a referral from United States Border Patrol, after her vehicle failed to yield as a suspected alien smuggling load vehicle.” Burgos added that she “volun- tarily called Cecil Shamley School and requested that her son be released so he could meet her while she was in ICE custody.” “Claims circulating about an ICE oper- ation, raid, or enforcement action at or near Cecil Shamley School are completely inaccurate and appear to be sensational- ized,” Burgos wrote. “ICE did not conduct any such activity at the school.” Promotion ceremony restrictions Paredes’ detention has left his friends scared and angry. “We don’t know where he is. He hasn’t texted us,” said classmate Angelique Soto- Martinez through tears. “He was just a kid here and he was so excited to promote. He was so excited to go to high school, and now he’s just gone.” Clarissa Vela, the founder of PeopleFirstProject, said Paredes’ family traveled to Arizona in 2023 from Ecuador to seek asylum, turning themselves in at the border. Vela wasn’t familiar with the details of their asylum case. She added that Paredes Ortiz’s two older sons, both in their mid-20s, were also detained on Tuesday as they rushed to their mom’s aid in the Walmart parking lot. Both are married with children. Paredes’ father was deported to Ecuador two years ago. Paredes’ classmates described him as a short, funny ball of energy, an athletic soccer player who was always making his friends laugh. One of Paredes’ friends, Chris Solis, said he was a “bit of a trouble- maker, but not that much.” “He was a good person, really good,” Solis added. “He didn’t deserve this, really.” Outside the school on May 27, nearly 40 students and parents gathered to protest Paredes’ detention. Protesters chanted “Where is Dilan?” and called for ousting Sternberg, who students said canceled eighth-grade “promotion” events after they began speaking out about Paredes. Though rumors had spread that Paredes was detained inside the school, that does not appear to be the case. Tempe Elementary School District spokesperson Monica Allread told New Times in an email that Paredes’ mom and federal agents were near the school building Tuesday morning but that her detention “did not take place on school property.” Nonetheless, Sternberg acknowledged how the detention had shaken the school community in her letter to parents. “We understand that this situation has caused concern for students, families, staff and community members,” Sternberg wrote. “We are focused on maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment for our students.” “To ensure safety,” Sternberg wrote, parents and guests would not be able to attend the eighth-grade promotion cere- mony on May 28.. The ceremony would instead be recorded and shared with parents, who could pick up their children afterward. “This change may be disap- pointing for some families,” Sternberg wrote. “However, we feel it is truly in the best interest of our students and staff.” Parents outside the school were more than disappointed. Dalia Jimenez, a 30-year-old mother of two Cecil Shamley students, said she found out ICE was outside her kids’ school from a text from her daughter. She was “pissed off” because “my kid shouldn’t be the one telling me all this.” “It’s just really sad that the school is allowing this. This should be a sanctuary and a safe place,” said Jimenez, who attended Cecil Shamley as a student herself. “This community is built on immi- grants and we’re allowing families to be pulled out and taken out of state, or wher- ever they’re going.” Dilan Paredes and his mom, Margot Paredes Ortiz. (Provided by PeopleFirstProject) Promotion to Detention from p 7
