Its controversial history aside Thanksgiving has become synonymous with spending quality time with family. Every year families from all over the country travel to spend time together, dine together and catch up on things they’ve missed. Seems like a great time, right? Maybe, but this year that picture isn’t the reality for many across the country. For them, their lives are filled with terror wondering if they’ll make it home to their families, with some not making it home at all.
This is true for a Prairie Grove family who are now missing their father and husband. Waldin Sanchez was the owner of Del Rio Supermarket in Prairie Grove before he was detained. Sanchez was the head of the household but with him in ICE custody that responsibility has fallen onto his wife, Maria Verde.
With two children at home and a business to run Verde is unsure about the future of the supermarket, saying, “I can’t do whatever he did, he took care of some things, I took care of other things and now everything’s on me and we might close.”
After posting their story on Facebook, Verde received tremendous support from the community saying, “They come to purchase things, even if it’s not a lot, just a soda helps, anything helps.”
Since Trump has taken office and as the weathers gotten colder, ICE has taken over the streets. A Supreme Court ruling on Sept. 8, 2025, allowed federal agents in Los Angeles to consider using race as a factor to decide on who to stop or detain. Regardless of that ruling, it’s clear that ICE is targeting people of color everywhere.
While Sanchez had a previous misdemeanor from the state of Oklahoma 3 years ago, he had no convictions in Arkansas. The CATO Institute showed that out of 204,297 individuals held by ICE, 65 percent had no criminal convictions, and 93 percent had no convictions for violent offenses since Oct.1, 2024.
Verde described her husband as a hard worker, kind person and great father who loves his children. That doesn’t sound like the people that Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia Mclaughlin insists they’re going after as said in a video posted by DHS on X, “these are truly the worst of the worst individuals that our brave ICE enforcement officers are getting off American streets…”
Hundreds of videos on social media show that ICE have detained people at work sites, stores and more. Thousands have seen videos coming out of Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities.
Being undocumented is NOT a crime, the American Immigration Council states that not having documentation while being in the United States, “is a civil violation, rather than a criminal offense.”
So why the witch hunt? According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (Online) on Jun 10, “Agents didn’t need to develop target lists of immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, a longstanding practice, Miller said. Instead, he directed them to target Home Depot, where day laborers typically gather for hire, or 7-Eleven convenience stores.”
Clearly, it’s about the numbers which is why countless citizens and non-citizens alike have been detained, and thousands are scared to leave their homes regardless of status. With Thanksgiving around the corner, the Sanchez-Verde family is one of many that are going to be missing someone at their table.
