3 days ago
Where is Maria? S.F. woman vanishes after telling relatives ICE was taking her
An immigrant traveling to her early morning work shift at a San Francisco Target store Friday has vanished — after texting a relative that she was being taken by immigration officers — and now her family and police are trying to confirm whether she was truly arrested.
But so far, federal immigration officials have not said whether Maria Auxiliadora Jarquin Morales is in their custody — and her family says they have not heard from her since about 4:30 a.m. when she left a series of text messages saying she was being taken.
In her texts, Morales, a 33-year-old Nicaraguan woman who is the mother of one daughter, told the relative that she was driving to her job on Geary Street in the Richmond District when she was pulled over and asked for her driver's license, according to the family member who received the voicemails from her.
The family member spoke to the Chronicle on condition that her identity not be revealed and in accordance with the Chronicle's policy on anonymous sources.
Morales texted that she was scared and sent her location in case anything happened to her, the family member said. Morales told the family member that she was being taken by immigration authorities and told the relative to care for her daughter.
Morales also sent a video while in her car and then told her relative where she had left her parked vehicle, which her family later recovered.
Her family has not heard from her again, despite dozens of texts and calls to her, and no agencies have confirmed any arrest. Morales was authorized to work in the U.S. and had no criminal record, the family member said.
Morales has always been a hard worker and never disappeared — or been out of contact with her family — before. She has been in the United States for three years.
The family member reported the woman missing to San Francisco police, who also have not been able to confirm with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies that the woman is in their custody, the family member said.
San Francisco police confirmed they received a report of a missing person in the Richmond District.
ICE did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment Friday.
The disappearance of Morales comes days after lawyers said ICE arrested four immigrants in the San Francisco Immigration Court after attending their court hearings in their asylum cases. Advocates have vowed to fight the arrests, which came after Department of Homeland Security lawyers unsuccessfully moved to have their cases dismissed.
Lawyers said the arrests and deportation efforts from the administration of President Donald Trump infringes on the due process of immigrants, circumventing the decisions of immigration judges ruling against the Department of Homeland Security.
The woman's family is continuing their search for answers on her whereabouts, including checking hospitals.
