Wendy Mendez, an Oshkosh Area School District employee honored as one of its Employees of the Year during the 2024-25 school year, was arrested by federal immigration agents in Milwaukee on Oct. 14. The Department of Homeland Security says she remains in custody pending removal from the United States, but a conflicting account surfaced days later claiming she had already been deported — leaving her exact status unresolved.
Mendez is identified by Wisconsin Public Radio as a Spanish teacher at Vel Phillips Middle School, though the Oshkosh Area School District's own employee-of-the-year announcement lists her as an interpreter, and WSAW describes her as a teaching assistant in the district's English Speakers of Other Languages program. Her exact title remains inconsistently reported across outlets. What is consistent is her story: Mendez moved to Wisconsin from Costa Rica in 2020 with her husband and two sons, according to the station's reporting.
According to DHS, Mendez entered the country legally on a temporary basis roughly six years ago but failed to depart in 2021. Federal officials told the Advance-Titan, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student newspaper that first broke the story, that she was placed into removal proceedings on Feb. 18 and ordered removed on Sept. 9 after failing to appear at a hearing. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's own statistics page notes its removal authority flows from the Immigration and Nationality Act under Title 8 of the U.S. Code, while the Executive Office for Immigration Review states that removal proceedings formally begin once DHS files a Notice to Appear with the immigration court.
Conflicting Accounts of Where Mendez Stands Now
DHS said being in detention is, in its characterization, a choice, and that Mendez will remain in custody pending her removal from the United States. But an anonymous source told the student paper that Mendez was actually deported the prior Wednesday, Oct. 21 — a claim that directly conflicts with the federal agency's statement that she remains in custody. The discrepancy has not been resolved, and Mendez's legal representation was not immediately available for comment, per the same account.
The federal government has also said it is offering $3,000 and a free flight to people who self-deport, while warning that those who do not leave voluntarily will be arrested and deported without a chance to return, according to the DHS statement relayed in reporting on the case.
School District Calls Her an Employee in Good Standing
The Oshkosh Area School District recognized Mendez during the 2024-25 school year as one of eight employees honored out of 211 nominations districtwide, according to the Oshkosh Area School District. After news of her detention broke, the district sent a letter to Vel Phillips Middle School families stating that Mendez is an employee in good standing and that she has been placed on unpaid leave. The district said she would be out of the classroom for the foreseeable future, and emphasized that her leave is unrelated to school safety or her job performance.
The case was first reported by the Advance-Titan, and the station's report notes the district's statement reiterated that its primary focus remains supporting students and staff while keeping classroom learning moving forward.
Wider Pattern of ICE Activity in Wisconsin
Mendez's detention comes amid a broader rise in immigration enforcement across the state. The average number of people detained in Wisconsin on a given day climbed from about 115 between 2023 and 2025 to 147 in 2026, a 25 percent increase, according to Wisconsin Public Radio's separate reporting on ICE detention trends. That same reporting found 54 percent of those detained in Wisconsin this year had no criminal convictions, down from 75 percent the year before, and noted that detainees are increasingly being transferred to facilities in Kansas, Kentucky and Indiana, often farther from family members and attorneys.
Locally, the Winnebago County sheriff's office participates in the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to assist with immigration enforcement and detention, according to the Wisconsin Examiner. ICE has reported 25 arrests in Winnebago County since the previous January, almost all of them originating from the county jail, the outlet reported. Separately, a 7th Circuit appeals court ruling on mandatory detention could allow hundreds of detainees across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin to seek bond hearings, according to Wisconsin Watch.
Community Response and Upcoming Vigil
Urban Milwaukee, which published its own account of the case, reported that a local nonprofit is hosting a vigil in downtown Oshkosh. Per the Advance-Titan, “A Vigil for the Missing” is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Oshkosh Opera House Square.
The Oshkosh Area School District was previously recognized as one of six districts nationwide chosen to participate in a Council of Chief State School Officers study on supports for newcomer students, a distinction tied to its English Learners program, per the district's own materials. That broader mission now sits alongside the uncertainty surrounding one of its own honored staff members, as community members and school officials alike await clarity on Mendez's fate.
