Lake Elmo woman’s ICE detention shows shifting policy for nursing mothers

The ongoing detention of a Lake Elmo mother with a pending asylum case is the latest example of how parts of the U.S. immigration system have changed under President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, 25, has been in the Kandiyohi County jail since July 17 when she was stopped in St. Paul while on her way to work by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The federal government is seeking to deport her for failing to appear in court in 2019 after she requested asylum.

She came to the U.S. from El Salvador nearly a decade ago, has no criminal record and her youngest child is a 22-month-old toddler who was still nursing when Maldonado was detained.

Her attorney, Gloria Contreras Edin, who has worked on immigration cases for more than 20 years, says under previous administrations, mothers of young children, especially those who are nursing, were almost always released on bond.

“She’s a good girl. She’s a Sunday-school teacher,” said Contreras Edin. “She just wants to take care of her kids.”

Immigration Judge Kalin Ivany set a $10,000 bond for Maldonado during a July 31 hearing at the Fort Snelling Immigration Court. Maldonado was able to raise the money, but the attorney for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appealed the bond decision, leaving Maldonado in detention.

Last week, Contreras Edin asked a federal court to intervene and release Maldonado on bond. A judge will consider the request at a hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Attorney Hannah Brown is also working on Maldonado’s case.

A DHS representative and the assistant U.S. Attorney handling the federal case both declined to comment. Maldonado declined an interview request, saying through her lawyer she was too distraught to discuss her case.

Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said ICE’s treatment of mothers of young children, especially those who are nursing, was more humane under previous administrations. Moms were typically released on bond or to home confinement unless they were dangerous.

That policy, last updated in 2021 under President Joe Biden, is now “archived and not reflective of current practice,” according to ICE’s website.

“This just seems unnecessarily cruel,” Decker said. “What we are seeing with the current administration is that it is becoming the norm.”

Her ongoing detention is due to a July policy change by the Trump administration that stipulates immigrants in the country without proper authorization were not eligible for bond, even if they have a pending asylum case.

A class-action lawsuit challenging the policy was filed July 28 in California.

Maldonado entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2016 after being abandoned by her parents in El Salvador, Contreras Edin said. She requested asylum and was placed with a relative.

The living situation didn’t work out and Maldonado ended up leaving the relatives and lost track of her asylum case. Her failure to appear in court led to a removal order, and in June 2024 she began working with her attorney to revive her asylum request.

Meanwhile, Maldonado got married, had two children and settled in Lake Elmo, where she ran a painting business with her husband. She’s active in her church and 14 friends and family members wrote letters in support of her release, her attorney said.

Contreras Edin hopes a federal judge will release Maldonado on bond so she can care for her children while her asylum case is being resolved. Violations of immigration law are a civil matter, but she remains held in the Kandiyohi jail.