The undocumented mother of a young woman with cancer was granted bail after she was detained in an immigration operation. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
Overwhelmed but grateful. That’s how an undocumented woman whose detainment went viral described her release since she’s been able to reunite with her ailing daughter.
Yolanda Perez’s pleas with immigration officers last month to release her so she could care for her daughter, who is battling bone cancer, widely circulated social media platforms. After being held at a detention center in San Diego for about two weeks, Perez was granted bond Tuesday and returned to her home in El Monte.
“I’m happy because I’m here with my daughter,” Perez told NBC4.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Perez is the main caretaker of her 21-year-old daughter Xitlali Perez Tejeda, whom she cares for amid her chemotherapy treatments. The mother was arrested Feb. 24 after immigration officers targeted her undocumented son.
“I wasn’t doing anything bad, just fighting to survive,” she said.
Immigration officers discovered the elder Perez had a shoplifting charge from 2005 for stealing food, and they placed her under arrest as they detained her son, Johnathan, for non-violent drug and mail theft charges that stemmed from 2012 to 2017.
Perez Tejeda, who is a U.S. citizen, expressed her gratitude for her mother’s release.
“It feels good. It feels like a relief,” she said. She added that the reunion with her mother feels like a weight off her shoulders.
According to Perez Tejeda, the family is now trying to bring her older brother home.
“I just hope they let him go,” she said. “He deserves to be out here. He already did his time and he deserves it, and he has changed a lot.”
The older Perez entered the U.S. from Jalisco in search of better opportunities. She said she’s thankful for her community’s support and for the support of those who rallied for her.
“While yes, I am undocumented, I’m not a bad person,” she said. “We all deserve our rights.”
Perez will have to check in with immigration officials through her release and live with an ankle monitor for the foreseeable future. She will likely be called to court again, but is unclear when.
Her son’s next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.
