A 22-year-old woman, Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month in Baltimore and placed into deportation proceedings—despite her attorney’s insistence that she is a U.S. citizen born in Maryland. The account comes from court filings, relatives, and statements from federal officials.
Diaz Morales was detained after leaving a Taco Bell with her younger sister, when ICE agents stopped their vehicle and took her into custody. Her lawyer, Victoria Slatton, says the agents moved forward without properly weighing the family’s claim that Diaz Morales was born in the United States. “It is an indisputable fact that she was born inside the United States,” Slatton said, per The Washington Post, arguing the case should never have reached the point of detention.
Federal officials dispute that. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Diaz Morales “is NOT a U.S. citizen,” claiming she did not provide a valid U.S. birth certificate or other proof of citizenship. DHS also pointed to a 2023 encounter near Lukeville, Arizona, during which agents say Diaz Morales identified herself as a Mexican citizen and provided a birth date consistent with that claim.
Slatton contends the government’s position is built on mix-ups rather than evidence. She says her team has provided ICE with a Maryland birth certificate, childhood immunization records from Anne Arundel County, and sworn statements from people who say they witnessed the birth. Slatton also says hospital officials confirmed birth records exist, even if certified copies have not been formally released.
At the center of the dispute is a difference in surnames used in various records. ICE has referred to her as Dulce Consuelo Madrigal Diaz, while her legal filings identify her as Diaz Morales. Slatton says the discrepancy stems from her parents’ use of two surnames—a common practice in many Latino families—and argues that naming inconsistencies do not erase citizenship. “We encourage investigation,” Slatton said, adding: “The facts and the law are on our side.”
Relatives say Diaz Morales was born in Maryland and lived in the U.S. for several years before moving to Mexico around 2009. They also say she returned to the United States in 2023 after fleeing cartel violence—circumstances her attorneys argue have no bearing on citizenship acquired at birth, even if they later affected how and when she came back into contact with federal authorities.
After her arrest, Diaz Morales was transferred through multiple detention facilities—first in Maryland and later to a correctional center in Louisiana—making it difficult for her family and legal team to locate her. Her sister, Lucia Madrigal Díaz, described the stop as abrupt and terrifying, saying agents boxed in the car before taking Diaz Morales. “They took Dulce,” she said, adding that agents never asked whether her sister had been born in the United States.
The case is now in federal court, where a judge has temporarily blocked ICE from deporting Diaz Morales while her citizenship claim is reviewed. The order prevents her removal as the court considers whether the government has legal authority to detain her in immigration custody.
Her family says the detention has already taken a heavy toll, particularly on her young son, who has been separated from his mother during the holiday season. With the legal fight now underway, the outcome will turn on whether the court agrees with federal officials—or accepts the defense’s claim that Diaz Morales is an American citizen who never should have been placed in deportation proceedings in the first place.
