Copyright dailymail
The female migrant who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at Salt Lake City airport did not know she had a long-serving deportation order, according to a lawyer working on her case. Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, 39, was arrested by plain-clothed agents at the Utah travel hub last Wednesday. Footage of her arrest showed the wailing mother-of-four imploring, 'Help me, I have my papers' as she was taken into custody by ICE. Now, her legal team has claimed Leiva 'did not know' that a judge had placed a removal order against her. 'She is a woman who had no idea there was a removal order against her,' Andy Armstrong, an attorney involved in Leiva's case, told FOX 13. He said a court notice had been sent to an address that Leiva did not reside at. What's more, Leiva believes it was sent to the notary who helped with immigration paperwork. Armstrong added: 'She went to this individual to help her fill out the forms, as many immigrants do - go to these services - and we believe that it was his address that was on the form as his address.' In a statement, ICE identified Leiva as being in the country illegally and said she was from El Salvador, having entered the US in 2007. Leiva was targeted in what a statement referred to as an 'enforcement operation' after she had been given a final order of removal in absentia in February 2020. Armstrong said Leiva had a valid work permit that had been approved in 2024 and ran until 2029 and believed she was in possession of all the required documents prior to her arrest. Video of ordeal showed her being grabbed by the arms while she was cuffed, pulling her up from the floor as she kicked out her legs in protest. Onlookers nearby appeared petrified as authorities lugged the wailing woman away as she yelled, 'Help me, help me, I have my papers. Help me please.' Leiva's lawyer said authorities 'didn't have a record of where her house was.' 'Her name certainly popped up in an immigration database to show she had a removal order, so ICE went to detain her at the airport because they knew that's where she would be,' Armstrong said. 'Immigrants that are in immigration court have a responsibility to keep their address updated, with the immigration court and with ICE,' he went on. 'But they have to know that they have a responsibility, and she did not know that and she never knew her case had been transferred over to ICE.' The lawyers have since filed a motion to reopen Leiva's immigration case. Leiva is a single mom to four kids who are US citizens, per FOX 13. A GoFundMe fundraiser started by Abigail Renderos, who said she was Leiva's sister, said she had checked in her luggage and was getting ready for a domestic flight at the time of her arrest. Renderos wrote: 'She is only asking for the opportunity to defend her asylum case. She is afraid to return to El Salvador.' She added that Leiva's address had been the same since 2019 and maintained the woman had never been notified of any changes to her immigration status by the relevant authorities. Leiva remained at a detention center in Salt Lake County. Clips of her arrest last Wednesday were shot and shared by author Shannon Hale, who described the event and her accompanying emotions. She wrote: 'I hurried through the crowd and straight up to the commotion and asked an airport worker in uniform what was happening and why was no one helping her? 'They told me the men were ICE. I began to shake. I wanted to help her. She was a mom, a woman, under assault, begging for help. Why couldn't I help her? 'I think I said something like, "We need to help her!" A uniformed police officer looked back at me and stepped more directly between me and the woman under assault. 'His body language said he was standing guard and he was prepared to stop anyone who tried to intervene. 'If this was a kidnapping, technically currently "legal" or not, at least I could record her face so her family would know what happened.' In a statement, the Salt Lake City Police Department said: 'Our officer noticed the commotion and went over, and the individuals identified themselves as federal law enforcement and showed their badge. 'We did not participate in any other way, other than going to check out to see what the commotion was.
