By Abriendo Puertas Para Soluciones and Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Toledo, Ohio, October 6, 2026: Nazario Vazquez was the subject of a 911 call for help. Through a chain of events involving the Toledo Police Department and the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, he ultimately ended up in ICE custody. ICE, an agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has faced serious claims about due process and the treatment of detained individuals, including children, throughout the United States.
FLOC, the Black/Brown Unity Coalition and Abriendo Puertas para Soluciones are questioning the policies and practices of our local law enforcement agencies. We are asking for clear policies for interactions with individuals who require language assistance or are perceived to be immigrants, as well as clear policies governing local law enforcement’s interactions with ICE.
Local law enforcement officers have significant discretion in how they handle encounters involving immigrant residents. We question why entering local custody should become a pathway into federal immigration detention.
Nazario’s conduct during the encounter can be addressed through the criminal justice system. But that does not answer separate questions about language access or how his local arrest ultimately resulted in his transfer to federal immigration custody. Those are the decisions and policies our community deserves to understand.
Emergency medical services should have clear procedures for responding to patients who may be confused, distressed, intoxicated, or unable to communicate in English, including how medical conditions and physical limitations are assessed before physical restraint is used and how that information is communicated to police.
On September 14, TPD had already encountered Nazario and knew language was a significant barrier. Yet his 15-year-old daughter was again placed in the position of helping police communicate with her family. A planned law enforcement action involving a known language barrier should not depend on a child to bridge that communication gap. That is unacceptable.
We are also asking the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office to provide the community with a clear policy governing its interactions with ICE. That policy should explain how ICE detainer requests are handled, who makes those decisions, and what discretion the Sheriff’s Office has when determining whether someone in local custody will be transferred to federal immigration authorities.
The consequences for Nazario’s family have been enormous. His children have been separated from their father, left in a state of trauma, and the family is left to fend for themselves against a federal immigration system that the Trump administration has provided with extensive financial and enforcement resources.
There must be a path at the local level that respects due process, allows individuals to pursue their legal rights, and prevents unnecessary family separation.
We are asking our local officials to do everything within their authority to help undo the harm that has occurred, reunite Nazario with this family, and examine the local decisions that helped bring us to this point.