From New Jersey to Louisiana and Back: An Elizabeth Woman’s Path Through ICE Detention

Lourdes Rosero, an asylum seeker from Ecuador with a work permit and no criminal record, was among 46 people detained in an October 29, 2025, immigration raid at the Savino Del Bene warehouse in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, New Jersey; agents took her work permit, which she has not gotten back. After eight days at the CoreCivic-run Elizabeth Detention Center, she was woken at 3 a.m., chained at the waist and flown to the LaSalle ICE Processing Center near Jena, Louisiana, without a confirmed lawyer. A judge set bail at $15,000 at a November 13 hearing held by Zoom, and her daughter paid it by November 18, after which Rosero was released and flown back to Newark. Nearly a year after her arrest, she cannot work without her permit, and her legal costs for her pending asylum case have exceeded $25,000.