A 22-year-old who was detained as she was leaving a press conference on immigrants’ rights Wednesday will not get a court hearing before she is deported, her lawyers said.

Dreamer detained by Ice agents while in process of Daca status renewal Read more

Daniela Vargas was in the process of renewing her application for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), the Obama administration program that temporarily protects from deportation undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children. Vargas was an aspiring math teacher who went to college while under the program. And Bill Chandler, an immigrants’ advocate who knew Vargas well, said she had a receipt showing that her application was being processed.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said in a statement on Wednesday that the action was part of “targeted immigration enforcement”. On Thursday, the lawyer Nathan Elmore said Ice had indicated it would pursue immediate deportation against Vargas without allowing her to first have a court hearing. Vargas’s lawyers have filed a petition challenging Ice’s decision.

“Ice is supposed to target undocumented immigrants who commit crimes,” said Elmore. “Convicted criminals. Daniela doesn’t fit into any of these categories. Is this where you want your tax dollars directed?”

In a statement released by her lawyers, Vargas said: “I don’t understand why they don’t want me. I’m doing the best I can. I mean, I can’t help that I was brought here but I don’t know anything else besides being here and I didn’t realize that until I was in a holding cell last night for five hours. I was brought here. I didn’t choose to be here. And when I was brought here, I had to learn a whole new country and leave behind the one that I did know.”

Chandler, the executive director of Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, said Ice agents had attended his organization’s immigration advocacy events before to locate potential undocumented immigrants. “One of the things that has happened, with the phenomenon of Trump becoming president, is that Ice agents ... they’re just going after everybody that they can get their hands on.”

He said he was nervous when he saw Vargas arrive at the press conference Wednesday morning.

It had been organized by local businesses, churches and advocacy groups to oppose an anti-immigration law proposed in Mississippi, a so-called “sanctuary city ban”. The bill prevents any city or any state institution, such as universities, from sheltering immigrants or prohibiting its employees from cooperating with Ice. Vargas spoke at the conference as a representative of Mississippi Daca students.

As she was being driven away from the event by a friend, Ice agents stopped and detained her.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Daniela Vargas. Photograph: Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Agents had arrested Vargas’s brother and father two weeks earlier at the family’s house. Vargas avoided arrest by locking herself in the house and calling her pastor, who then notified advocacy groups and local media. Chandler had stood vigil outside the Vargas house for five hours as about 10 Ice agents tried to persuade Vargas to open the door.

Although Vargas’s Daca permit had expired, her renewal application was under review. Ice obtained a search warrant, broke into the house and handcuffed Vargas, who was, by that time, hiding in the closet. Vargas answered Ice’s questions about her immigration status indirectly, she said in an interview with Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Ice removed the handcuffs after 20 minutes, but told her that they would come back for her.

“Because Ice had said they were going to come back for her, we thought it was not a good idea to expose her,” Chandler said.

Vargas has been sent to the LaSalle detention facility in Louisiana, a private prison run by the Geo Group. None of the family members have been permitted to see one another.

“They don’t know still what’s happened,” said the Rev Goyo de la Cruz, a family friend who visited the family at the detention center. “Also they don’t know what’s happening tomorrow. Or next days. But they have some questions regarding the act of the administration. The government. Because they can’t explain why they just took all the family. They were not prepared for this chaotic situation.”

Vargas aspired to become a math teacher. She described herself as a straight-A, honor-roll high school student who attended university on a scholarship to play trumpet.

“Dany is funny and passionate about being the best because she knows it is a privilege to be here,” a close friend identified as Jordan said in a statement issued by United We Dream. “That’s why she works so hard ... She is smart and just wants to go to school. She loves skateboarding, playing catch and writing.”

“She always had a kind word for everyone,” said Taylor Nicole, who was a classmate at East Central Community College. “She was so smart, as well.”

Under Obama in the latter years of his presidency, Ice was directed to focus on convicted criminals. Trump’s policy changes encourage Ice to pursue and detain any immigrant suspected of a crime, but he has maintained in speeches that his goal is to focus on “criminals”. Deporting so-called “Dreamers” who came to the US as children would be a dramatic expansion of his policy. In February, the Daca recipient Daniel Ramirez was also detained by Ice agents. Officials allege he is a “gang member”, an affiliation Ramirez denies.

Vargas’s family immigrated to the US from Cordoba, Argentina, when she was seven years old, on a visa-waiver program that allowed them to stay for 90 days. They stayed in the US beyond that period. For years, Vargas’s parents worked in Mississippi poultry plants. Because the family came to the country on a visa-waiver program, Ice claims they can be deported without court review.