SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. —

Silvia Reyna Mendoza, a mother who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years, is currently in ICE detention in Kern County, California, after her family claims she was retaliated against for reporting sexual harassment by an ICE contractor.

Reyna Mendoza arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager. Her family said she was fleeing domestic violence. Over the last 40 years, she has raised eight children here.

“She’s a caring woman, and anyone that crosses paths with her easily will become her friend,” her daughter Patrisia Reyna said.

“She raised us with good morals and intentions and treating others right,” her son Francisco Govea added.

Her children are all U.S. citizens, but she herself is not. Reyna Mendoza has spent years navigating the immigration pro

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