MAGA Mayoral Candidate Donald Nance Says ICE 'Increased Racism' After Son-In-Law Was Detained Twice

A Louisiana Republican who says he supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has seen his own family affected by its enforcement operations, not once, but twice.

Donald 'Don' Nance, a West Monroe businessman who ran for mayor earlier in 2026, has gone public with his family's ordeal after his son-in-law was detained by ICE agents for a second time in July.

Nance told Univision that ICE operations have divided the country and increased racism, even as he maintains he backs the agency's broader mission. His account, delivered directly to the network's Noticiero Univision, offers a glimpse of Republican unease with enforcement tactics from inside a family directly affected by them.

A Second Detention on the Way To Work

Nance's son-in-law, Cesar Madrigal, was stopped in the final week of July while driving to work, at around six in the morning. According to Nance, officers told the family Madrigal had been pulled over for failing to signal a lane change.

Nance said he rushed to the scene and found several local police patrol cars alongside immigration agents. Madrigal was holding his paperwork, Nance said, when agents took him into custody.

Nance said his son-in-law was released after officers discovered that his residency case had already been approved. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. It was not the family's first brush with detention, as Madrigal had been held in ICE custody for nearly a year two years earlier before his residency was approved.

Madrigal is married to Nance's daughter and had entered the United States legally on a work visa. By the time of this second detention, his residency case, approved during his earlier period in ICE custody, had already cleared.

A Republican Who Backs ICE but Not Every Tactic

Nance was careful to draw a distinction between the agency's mission and its methods. He told Univision he supports ICE's actions but questions how detentions are carried out against people without a criminal record.

The toll, he said, has fallen hardest on his grandchildren. Nance recounted one of them crying and saying, 'My dad isn't coming back', a moment he described as deeply painful to witness.

He went further, arguing the country urgently needs a path to legal status for immigrants without criminal records, both in the United States and their countries of origin. Asked to reconcile that view with his party membership, Nance offered a blunt summary of where he now stands: 'I am a Republican on paper... but I am more a person than a politician.'

A Mayoral Run Shaped by Family and Finance

Nance's public profile in West Monroe predates the Univision interview.

A former city employee of 13 years, he challenged incumbent Mayor Staci Mitchell in the city's May 2026 election on a platform of transparency and fiscal restraint, telling one local outlet that under the current administration, the first thing done was locking the City Hall elevator so the public could not reach the second floor.

He campaigned heavily on the city's finances, citing what he described as roughly £31 million ($42 million) in outstanding municipal debt, and argued that the city carries significant debt alongside bond obligations tied to major capital projects.

At an April candidate forum, Mitchell defended her own record on jail costs, noting that the city had previously spent close to £629,000 ($850,000) a year housing inmates before shifting arrangements to cut costs.

Nance ultimately lost the 16 May 2026 election to Mitchell, closing out what local media described as his second bid for the office. He struck a reflective tone afterwards, saying his business background was rooted in continual adaptation: 'I have learned a lot along the way about what will work and what won't work.'

An Immigration Case That Had Already Been Approved

Nance's account comes as ICE enforcement continues across Louisiana and beyond.

His willingness to publicly criticise enforcement tactics, despite his party affiliation and continued support for the agency's existence, is notable because his comments come from a Republican who says he supports ICE while questioning some of its enforcement practices.

Whether Nance's remarks influence policy or simply document one family's experience remains to be seen, but the story underscores how immigration enforcement can reach into households that might otherwise be assumed immune from its consequences.

Nance's warning, as he put it to Univision, was not directed at his party but at the country: the raids, he said, are dividing Americans and spreading racism, a charge he makes as a man who still says he supports the agency carrying them out.