ICE Arrests Family on Their Way to Walt Disney World

A nine-year-old girl asked her family for a vacation to The Most Magical Place on Earth. They agreed, but on their way to Walt Disney World Resort, their worst nightmare came true–they were detained by ICE. Reporters recently published a letter from the child, who spent over 100 days in a detention center, and blamed herself for the tragic outcome of her family vacation.

ICE Detains Family on the Way to Walt Disney World Resort

On February 9, ProPublica published several handwritten letters from children at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same place where five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was held after his viral detainment in Minnesota. The outlet collected the documents throughout January 2026, and hundreds of children are still being held at the facility.

One of those letters was from nine-year-old Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya, who was detained on her way to Walt Disney World Resort. @propublica shared her writings on X (formerly known as Twitter), noting that the child spent over 113 days at the ICE facility:

6/ “When I arrived every night I cried and now I don’t sleep well, I felt that being here was my fault and I only wanted to be on vacation like a normal family.” 9-year-old Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya, detained on her way to Disney World, spent 113+ days at Dilley.

6/ “When I arrived every night I cried and now I don’t sleep well, I felt that being here was my fault and I only wanted to be on vacation like a normal family.”

9-year-old Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya, detained on her way to Disney World, spent 113+ days at Dilley. pic.twitter.com/ajnCopTnxY

— ProPublica (@propublica) February 9, 2026

Her letter featured drawings of herself and another child at the facility, and several sad faces and broken hearts. Translated from Spanish, it reads:

“I am Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya and I have been 113 days in detention I miss my friends and I feel they are going to forget me. I am bored here. I already miss my country and my house, I came on vacation for 10 Days and they took me into an ice office an officer interrogated me 2 hours without my mom, I was traveling with flight attendant because my mom lives in new york, they only wanted to arrest my mom, because my mom didn’t have documents to live in U.S.A., I always traveled with my tourist visa but ice used me to catch my mom and now I am in a jail and I am sad and I have fainted 2 times here inside. When I arrived every night I cried and now I don’t sleep well, I felt that being here was my fault and I only wanted to be on vacation like a normal family.

They don’t give me my diet I am vegetarian, I don’t eat well, there is no good education and I miss my best friend julieta and my grandmother and my school I already want to get to my house.

Me in dilei [Dilley] am not happy please get me out of here to colombia”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that no detainees at Dilley were denied medical care, and that children have access to “teachers, classrooms, and curriculum booklets for math, reading, and spelling.” Officials claimed that medical and other staff members at the facility meet “the highest standard of care.”

ICE Facility in Central Florida

The news of Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya’s detainment comes weeks after DHS unveiled an all-new ICE detainment center down the road from Walt Disney World Resort. Despite some protests from local communities, lawmakers were unable to prevent the construction of the facility, which can hold hundreds of detainees.

Has law enforcement activity impacted your visit to Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort? Share your story with Inside the Magic in the comments.