Valeria Mendoza Santiago, a 25-year-old pregnant woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, was arrested by ICE agents at a bus stop in Anchorage on March 20, 2026, and transferred to Hiland Mountain Correctional Center before her lawyers won her release via a temporary restraining order citing ICE guidelines against detaining pregnant women. Her case is now proceeding in Alaska's federal court. Mendoza Santiago said she entered the U.S. near Tijuana in 2021 to join her husband, a flooring worker and member of the Triqui Indigenous group, and that she fears returning to Mexico due to threats of violence. She lives with her husband, their son, and her mother-in-law in Anchorage, where the family has enrolled their son in school and spent time together visiting parks.