After Six Months in ICE Detention, a Chicago Tamale Vendor Rebuilds Her Life

Laura Murillo, 55, sold tamales from a folding table near the Home Depot at 47th Street and Western Avenue for years after arriving in Chicago from Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 2005. She was arrested in September 2025 during Operation Midway Blitz and held for six months at Camp East Montana, the detention camp on an Army base near El Paso, Texas — roughly 1,500 miles from her two daughters, Génesis, 20, and Daniela, 17. She lost 36 pounds in custody, described psychological abuse by guards, and twice refused offers of voluntary departure. The government released her in late March 2026 after acknowledging her arrest violated the Castañón Nava consent decree, the 2022 federal court agreement restricting warrantless immigration arrests. Neighbors sold more than 300 tamales in an hour to raise money for her family while she was gone; she is now pursuing legal status and, citing rheumatoid arthritis, has deliberately refused to return to her old work schedule.