The recent college grad from North Port shares what it was like to cross the bridge to Mexico.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: August 15, 2025
Host: After weeks of ICE detention, a young woman who grew up in North Port signed her deportation papers and walked across the Mexican border. She told WSLR News reporter Ramon Lopez what that was like.
Lopez: 22-year-old Maria Martinez, who’s from North Port, had an important decision to make: To leave or not to leave, that is the question.
WSLR News was able to speak to Maria, known as Lulu to friends and family, now in self-imposed exile just outside of Mexico City.
Her unexpected journey all began in May when she was detained by a North Port cop for making an illegal U-turn. She did not have a drivers license and was an undocumented immigrant, having come to Florida from Mexico with her family when she was 12.
She was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents. Maria eventually ended up in ICE’s El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas.
She appeared before an immigration court judge but was denied bond enabling her to go home. You see, she was deemed a “threat to society for driving without a license” and returned to the ICE lockup to face deportation out of detainment. To say she was surprised by the judge’s ruling would be an understatement.
Maria Martinez
Maria Martinez: I was very surprised. I was in shock, actually. When they took me with the other girls, all of them were celebrating because they were able to get bond, and I didn’t. I was in shock, and I remember I started crying. All the girls there helped me a lot. They gave me all that support. I was very confident that I was going to get bond because in my mind it was like, I’m a student; I just graduated; I don’t have a criminal history; I never had a problem; I wasn’t drunk. Even my family, I think they really thought I was going to get the money—my friends—everyone. When I got to the detention facility and everyone saw me, they knew.
RL: She then had two options: Appeal the bond denial, remaining at the detention camp for many more months, in hopes of being released; or voluntarily self-deport to Mexico. Maria decided to take option two so she wouldn’t go crazy.
MM: I had the opportunity to appeal. When I talked to Evangeline—to my lawyer—she said that we could appeal, but she couldn’t tell me how much time it was going to take. I speak to my mom that if she wanted me to, I could fight, but I was going to get crazy if I stayed there for too long.
El Valle Detention Center. Photo: Butler & Cohen
With my voluntary release, I didn’t get any punishment. I think my record’s clean about that. So, if I decide to return to the United States in the future, or maybe tomorrow, I’m able to get a work permit, a visa, or even if I want to get married. I’m able to get that.
RL: As the Trump administration is pushing to quickly get rid of migrants without lawful status, Lulu appeared in immigration court on Tuesday and was released on Friday.
MM: They woke me up at 4:00 in the morning. I prepared everything. They gave me all my belongings. The clothes that I was with when I got arrested—which was my uniform—they gave me everything—my wallet, my phone.
They took me to the other detention facility—the one that is for men only, where the courts take place. We wait there a couple hours for the transfer, and there, he took us to the bridge to Matamoros, Tamaulipas. I was released with another girl.
The Gateway International Bridge connects Brownsville, Texas to its sister city Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
RL: Lulu crossed the U.S.-Mexico border via a bridge connecting Brownsville to its sister city, Matamoros, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Her walk to freedom was without incident. She was lucky.
MM: A couple days before getting released, a lot of the girls were telling me, “Oh, Lulu, you’ve got to be really careful because of kidnapping.” And that made me really scared—really worried. I know my mom was, too. They took care of us very well. The Marines, the National Guard—the Mexican National Guard—as soon as we cross a bridge, they’re waiting for us already.
“Mexico embraces you” is the name of a Mexican government program started in January welcoming and helping deportees.
RL: On the other side, she was issued papers by Mexican government officials and joined others at a government-run shelter to spend the night, enjoying a taco dinner as a free woman, before flying the next day to Mexico City.
Others weren’t so lucky.
MM: A girl, she had to move to another shelter because she had nowhere to go. She was already six days in that shelter, and they had to move her to another shelter because she couldn’t stay that long because she had nowhere to go. But in my case, I was very lucky because I had a place to go.
RL: I asked Lulu what went through her mind when crossing that bridge.
MM: I felt very emotional. I was happy. I was scared. When I crossed that bridge with that girl, there was a lot of traffic. There were a lot of people getting in line to cross to Texas. I remember crossing the bridge and everyone looking at us because they know. Everyone was looking at us, and they knew. I remember seeing everything like the streets, the cars, to everyone speaking Spanish. For some reason, I felt very happy.
RL: Next Wednesday, in Part 3 of Maria’s journey, she arrives in Mexico City for a festive partial family reunion, considers her immigration options and makes her immediate and long term plans, as her family elects to forsake Florida and join Lulu in Mexico.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
See our previous reporting here:
ICE detainee describes what it’s like in lockup
North Port college grad detained and mistreated, family says
After weeks of ICE detention, Lulu Martinez yields to pressure
Lulu Martinez denied bond, continues in ICE detention in Texas
After weeks of ICE detention, Lulu Martinez yields to pressure