Argentine woman held by ICE in Texas for a month despite voluntary departure order
Sep 9, 2026·Location: TX
Country of origin: Argentina

Ernestina Pavlovsky, a 33-year-old Argentine personal trainer who lived in Aspen, Colorado for 13 years, was detained by plainclothes ICE agents at Miami International Airport on August 1 while returning from visiting family. She was held for several days in Miramar/Pompano Beach, Florida, where her partner said constant lighting felt like 'a torture chamber,' before being shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles and driven overnight to the CoreCivic-run Laredo Processing Center in Texas. She has no criminal record, had entered the U.S. on a tourist visa, and had a stalled application to regularize her status after a divorce from a U.S. citizen. She and her family described conditions at the Laredo facility including rats, cockroaches, ants, mold, contaminated water, restricted bottled-water access, and sleep deprivation from overnight guard patrols. A judge initially denied her bond over flight-risk concerns, but at a September 1 hearing granted her request for voluntary departure. She remains in ICE custody in Texas awaiting a flight back to Argentina, and supporters have raised roughly $50,000 through a GoFundMe campaign for her legal costs.
Timeline
Sources
- La personal trainer argentina detenida por el ICE pidió la autodeportación: “Esto es terrorismo físico y mental”
lanacion.com.ar·Sep 8, 2026·archived copy
- Ratas, agua de cloaca y condiciones extremas: el crudo relato a su familia de la personal trainer argentina detenida por ICE
lanacion.com.ar·Aug 29, 2026·archived copy
- Crudo relato de argentina detenida en centro del ICE: Ratas, cucarachas y hormigas
primerahora.com·Aug 29, 2026
- Una argentina lleva un mes detenida por el ICE y denuncian tratos inhumanos
- Quién es Ernestina Pavlovsky, la argentina arrestada por el ICE: permanece en un centro de detención en Texas
lanacion.com.ar·Aug 27, 2026
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