Diana Socha Torres fled violence in Colombia and came to the United States seeking asylum. She did everything right — she filed her asylum application on time and showed up when the system asked her to. Then, without adequate notice, the immigration court changed her hearing date. She didn't know. She missed it. And for that, ICE issued a deportation order, detained her and her young son in Wisconsin Dells, and sent them to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in south Texas.

This is not a failure of Diana's. It's a failure of the system.

"The immigration courts, especially now, are changing dates very frequently," said attorney Marc Christopher, who represents Socha Torres. "And they do so sometimes with little or no notice … It's very plausible that someone would not be aware of or could miss their court date."

Diana's son is now being held in a facility that former visitors have described as overcrowded with limited access to food, water, and medicine. "We're putting children in jail-like facilities and I think that we're forgetting they're children," said Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Diana has a documented fear of returning to Colombia — she wants to stay in the United States and continue her asylum case. ICE has claimed she is "choosing" to return. Her attorney says that is not true.

A judge will soon decide whether her missing that court date was reasonable. Until then, there is no justification for keeping a mother and child locked in a detention facility hundreds of miles from her home, her community, and her legal support.

Sign this petition to demand the immediate release of Diana Socha Torres and her son — before the system does any more damage to a family it already failed.