The Headlines Said “Second Grader in ICE Detention.” The Full Story: He’s with His Mom

The child and her mother remain confined in a distant, secure facility, far from their Vermont home and school—a difficult reality ill-served by sensational headlines.

A seven-year-old student at JFK Elementary School in Winooski is currently being held in a family immigration detention facility in Texas alongside his mother. According to Seven Days and a second story by VTDigger, the child and his mother left their Winooski home during Thanksgiving weekend in late November 2025. Shortly after departing, the child’s father, who remained in Vermont, lost contact with them.

When the student did not arrive at school on Monday, December 1, 2025, the Winooski School District activated what Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria described as a “rapid response” protocol. The district contacted the father, who confirmed he had been unable to reach his wife and son. Using their community resources and networks, the district located the mother and child in a family detention facility in Texas.

Who Is This Family

The family is originally from Ecuador and had been living in the United States for approximately three years. However, they had only recently moved to Winooski, having resided there for about two months before the incident. According to Seven Days reporting, the father stated that the family was in the process of applying for asylum at the time of the detention.

Clarifying the Detention: The Child Is With His Mother

It is important to clarify that this child was not detained alone. The student is being held in a family residential center with his mother. This is different from cases involving “Unaccompanied Alien Children,” a federal designation for minors who are detained without a parent or guardian present.

Family detention centers, located primarily in Texas and Pennsylvania, are facilities where parents and children are held together while their immigration cases are processed. While families remain together in these facilities, they are secure facilities and those inside are not free to leave.

How the School District Responded

The Winooski School District has adopted policies designed to protect immigrant families within its community. In February 2025, the district passed a formal Sanctuary Schools policy. Under this policy, any request by immigration enforcement agents to access school grounds must be forwarded immediately to the Superintendent. The district requires a judicial warrant before permitting agents onto school property and limits voluntary information sharing with federal agencies.

In response to the current detention, the district provided the child’s father with $1,000 from an emergency fund supported by private donations. Superintendent Chavarria publicly called for the immediate release of the student and his mother. “Our 2nd grader should be in his classroom,” he stated.

Background: The Superintendent’s Own Detention

The district’s response to this case comes with significant context. In July 2025, Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria himself was detained by federal agents. According to Education Week, Chavarria was held for nearly five hours at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston upon returning from a family visit to Nicaragua, despite being a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2018 and a Global Entry cardholder.

According to Chalkbeat, Chavarria was separated from his husband and subjected to what he described as aggressive interrogation. Agents asked for access to his electronic devices. Chavarria consented to a search of his personal phone but refused to unlock his district-issued devices, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects student records.

Chavarria is a native of Nicaragua who grew up in a refugee camp. A joint statement from the NEA, Vermont-NEA, and the Winooski Education Association condemned the detention of the Superintendent as an “unjust interrogation.”

The Broader Policy Context

The detention of this Winooski family occurs against a backdrop of intensified federal immigration enforcement in 2025. Several policy changes have affected immigrants and asylum seekers across the country.

According to HIAS, mid-2025 saw the launch of what immigration advocacy groups described as a “blitz” of deportation operations. The administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act and pursued expedited removal procedures. Additionally, The Washington Post reported that in late November 2025, the administration paused asylum decisions and some visa issuances.

According to a Human Rights First report, domestic transfer flights moving detainees from apprehension points to detention centers increased significantly in 2025. Travel for undocumented or asylum-seeking individuals became more complicated with the full enforcement of REAL ID requirements at airports, according to guidance from Immigrants Rising.

Understanding Family Detention

Family residential centers are distinct from other forms of immigration detention. According to research from the American Immigration Council, families held in these facilities who have access to legal counsel often have higher success rates in their asylum cases, as the presence of a parent allows for a more coherent legal defense. The research indicates that families with representation can achieve asylum success rates exceeding 80 percent in some circumstances.

While the child in this case is with his mother—not alone—he is nonetheless in a secure, restricted facility far from his Vermont home and school.

About the Media Coverage

Headlines describing the case as a “Winooski Second Grader in ICE Detention in Texas” are factually accurate. The child is indeed a second grader from Winooski who is in federal immigration custody in Texas. However, the headlines do not mention in the title that the child is with his mother. This information is clarified in the story, which states that the student was detained “after he and his mother were detained.”

Readers who only see the headline without reading the article may initially believe the child is unaccompanied, which is not the case.

What Happens Next

The mother and child remain in a family detention facility in Texas as of the time of reporting. Their case will likely move through the immigration court system, where their asylum application will be adjudicated. The family’s access to legal representation may significantly affect their case outcome.

The Winooski School District has stated it will continue to support the family. Superintendent Chavarria has called publicly for the student’s release so he can return to his classroom. The district’s emergency fund has already provided financial support to the father, and the school’s rapid response protocols remain in effect for other families who may face similar circumstances.

For Vermont communities with immigrant populations, the case has underscored the tensions between local sanctuary policies and federal enforcement actions. The outcome of this family’s immigration case—and whether the second grader returns to JFK Elementary—remains to be determined.