Undocumented woman sues ICE contractor for sexual harassment in Sacramento
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Woman sues ICE contractor alleging year-long sexual harassment and coverup.
- Complaint says contractor deleted evidence and officials ignored her reports.
- Family seeks release and damages while she remains detained in 2025.
An undocumented woman from Mexico, who has lived north of Sacramento for decades, is suing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor, alleging one of its workers repeatedly sexually harassed her for over a year and a half, including texting her nude photos and making aggressive, unwanted advances.
Lawyers for Silvia Reyna, who filed the case Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court, also claim that the contractor and two of its employees, including the alleged abuser, tried to cover up what transpired after Reyna informed the company of the alleged harassment.
Within months of her accusations, Reyna was taken into ICE custody on Sept. 11. She is now being held in a detention center in the Kern County town of California City.
Reyna, 52, is a mother of eight, including a son, Francisco Govea, who recently served in the U.S. Army.
A lawsuit as Trump deports people like her
Her lawsuit, which lands amid nationwide furor over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, seeks her release and unspecified monetary damages.
The ordeal has taken its toll on her family, which longs to see her back home in the Tehama County town of Corning.
“We felt very confused and helpless,” said Patrisia Reyna, the undocumented woman’s 25-year-old daughter.
“We’re not ourselves without our mother,” said another daughter, Briana Hernandez.
Reyna’s 14-page complaint names as defendants BI Incorporated, which develops electronic monitoring systems for ICE and other government agencies, and Luis Ruiz and Montserrat Esquivel, two individuals the suit says are BI employees.
“BI takes all allegations of sexual abuse and harassment with the utmost seriousness,” said Christopher V. Ferreira, director of corporate relations for BI Incorporated, which is owned by The Geo Group Inc, according to the complaint. “We have a zero-tolerance policy as it relates to such matters and take steps to ensure a thorough investigation of all related complaints. BI stands by our provision of high-quality support services to the Department of Homeland Security in accordance with all established federal standards.”
Attempts to reach officials with ICE, which is not a defendant in the case, have been unsuccessful.
Alleged sexual harassment at ICE headquarters in Sacramento
Because she is undocumented, Reyna’s immigration status required her to be monitored by ICE. She regularly traveled 114 miles from her apartment in Corning to Sacramento, where she would meet with employees of the ICE contractor.
Reyna’s suit alleges that Ruiz, her case specialist, harassed her between March 2023 and November 2024, when she said she complained to Ruiz’s employers about his conduct.
“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 family filed a criminal report on the alleged sexual harassment of their mother by Ruiz with the Sacramento Police Department. Sgt. Dan Wiseman, a department spokesman, confirmed that the report had been filed and is being investigated.
Reyna’s family and her complaint state that she would “shake with fear” every time she had to meet with Ruiz. Her immigration status left Reyna with the fear that she was trapped — that because she was undocumented, she lacked the rights that her American-born daughters possessed.
“I just remember her crying.”
“Before the sexual harassment began, I do recall my mom saying, ‘He’s yelling at me. I answered his question a minute late, and he’d yell, why aren’t you answering me?’ He was getting very hostile with her,” Patrisia Reyna said. “She was panicking every time she had an appointment.
“She told me she didn’t want to attend her meetings, but of course, if she didn’t attend, that would cause a warrant to occur. I just remember her crying.”
Reyna’s complaint claims that while being questioned about her harassment allegations during a Nov. 16, 2024, meeting at ICE headquarters in Sacramento, Esquivel “took” Reyna’s phone. It was later returned to her with evidence of the harassment deleted, the complaint said.
When Reyna asked Esquivel about the photos and video removed from her phone, Esquivel “responded angrily and aggressively and then feigned ignorance,” the lawsuit says.
Francisco Govea, Reyna’s son, said his mother shared some of the nude photos and explicit messages Ruiz allegedly sent her with her family the night before the Nov. 16 meeting. Govea said his family didn’t trust the ICE contract employees to believe her story, so the family preserved some photos and messages, some of which have been shared with The Bee.
Reyna’s daughters despaired for their mother and didn’t tell their brother Francisco Govea about the situation while he was deployed overseas.
“So coming back home from deployment and hearing what was going on filled me with anger and hopelessness,” Govea said.
“It’s just one of the worst feelings,” he said. “Here I am on deployment, on active duty, and they are abusing my mom. It’s like a spit in the face.”
Fled Mexico as a teenager
Reyna’s children said their mother had been the victim of domestic violence when they were growing up. That she had fled Mexico as a teenager to escape violence against women. These realities made her situation all the more poignant to her children. Their mother has never been able to escape the violence of her life, either in Mexico or the U.S.
“But she created a community for us,” her son, Francisco Govea said. “She always protected us.”
When the fear of saying nothing as she was being abused outweighed the fear of speaking up, Reyna chose to speak up, her family said.
For months, Reyna’s complaint alleges, BI officials did not respond to her specific allegations against Ruiz. Then in March she was fitted with an ankle monitor, her family said. And she was detained by ICE in September.
“It shows that they don’t care about the situation,” Govea said of his mother’s harassment.
Though she has lived in the U.S. for most of her life, Reyna, like millions of other undocumented immigrants, does not have a pathway to legal residency or citizenship.
“To the extent that the U.S. government allows legal immigration, it is based almost exclusively on selection or sponsorship by the U.S. government or U.S. families, employers, or other sponsors,” said David J. Bier, a Cato Institute research fellow in testimony before Congress in 2021.
“Thus, the question could be restated: Why can’t Americans let immigrants get into ‘the line?’ The answer to this question is that the government effectively bans them from doing so.”
Since her incarceration, her children said she has sometimes gone without food and water while in detention. A serious dental issue she has, thus far, also has gone unattended.
“It is our hope that those who are profiting by targeting the most vulnerable among us are held responsible for these reprehensible acts,” said Israel Ramirez, one of Reyna’s lawyers.
This story was updated on Oct. 17, 2025, to include a response from BI Incorporated Inc.
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Undocumented woman sues ICE contractor for sexual harassment in Sacramento."
