California woman suing ICE contractor for sex harassment abused before deportation, lawyer says

Marcos Breton, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 27, 2025

Published in Women

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento lawyer representing an undocumented woman who is suing a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor for sexual harassment says his client, Silvia Reyna, was brutally abused by ICE agents in the moments before being deported to Mexico Saturday morning.

“They took her out of her cell and once she was away from her cellmates they started to rough her up,” said Israel Ramirez, one of the lawyers in Reyna’s civil lawsuit against ICE contractor BI incorporated and two of its employees.

Reyna, who is now in Mexico, spoke to her lawyer by phone on Monday, Ramirez said.

“She told me they were pushing her against a wall, putting all their weight on her,” Ramirez said. “She said there were several agents, close to a half a dozen, who threw away her belongings and screamed at her that they could put her in prison for 10 years.”

Ramirez said he has been a lawyer for years, but was still shaken by the despair in Reyna’s voice.

“She was traumatized by the experience; it’s very, very difficult. She said they were very aggressive. Silvia is going to be 53 in November,” Ramirez said. “Given what we’re dealing with right now, (ICE) acted with complete impunity. With no human decency and no fear of potential repercussions.”

Reyna had feared reprisals before reporting to BI Incorporated, an ICE contractor, that she’d been sexually harassed by one of its employees. According to Reyna’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 14, a BI employee named Luis Ruiz had harassed her for 18 months before she reported him to his company in November 2024. Ruiz had been serving as Reyna’s ICE case supervisor, the lawsuit states.

“Ruiz, who had access to (Reyna’s) cell phone number, engaged in unwelcome sexual harassment of Plaintiff, including calling her on her phone, calling her by video, texting pictures of himself naked with an erect penis, and sending videos of himself masturbating. Ruiz also attempted to coerce (Reyna) for sexual favors, stating words to the effect of, ‘If you’re good to me, I’ll be good to you,’” the complaint says.

Reyna’s suit claims her complaints about Ruiz were never addressed. After reporting her case to BI Incorporated, she was required to wear an ankle monitor. Then in September, she was detained and incarcerated by ICE. Then, on Saturday, she was deported.

Reyna had lived north of Sacramento for nearly 40 years and raised eight kids in the Tehama County town of Corning. Her family said that she had unsuccessfully tried to establish residency in the U.S. for years.

Ramirez said that her civil lawsuit would proceed forward. The Sacramento Police Department is also investigating her allegations, a spokesman said.

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