California 4th grader detained by ICE at immigration hearing

(KTLA) — Concerned teachers and community members are rallying together to help a Southern California fourth grader after he was detained by immigration officials.

On May 29, Martir Garcia Lara, a student at Torrance Elementary School, attended an immigration hearing in Houston, Texas, with his father. 

However, instead of receiving an update on his father's immigration status, the boy and his father were both detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and separated from each other.

“He’s alone and he’s not able to return home,” said PTA president Jasmin King.

Teachers at Torrance Elementary reached out to King and the rest of the PTA, asking them for help in somehow getting the boy and his father released and back to Southern California.

“We have not received any information on why they were detained,” King said. “All we know is that Martir is just a fourth-grader who’s by himself, without his dad, without a parent, and just in a place that he probably doesn’t know, so we can only imagine what he might be feeling.”

King said the boy has been a student at Torrance Elementary since the first grade.

PTA members have since reached out to federal, state and local leaders to intervene and are asking other parents and community members to help in any way they can.

King said she and other PTA members are also prepared to help the boy and his father with any legal aid or financial assistance should they need it.