College Student Deported After Vegas Trip Goes Wrong

A simple vacation in Las Vegas ended in a nightmare for 22-year-old Gabriel Espinoza. The college student from California, who was brought to the US from Mexico as a child, was visiting the city with a friend in January when things went horribly wrong.

The Troubling Text Message

The trouble began with an automated checkout text from the Strat hotel. According to the Nevada Independent, someone replied, “omfg stop before I bomb this place.” 

Hotel staff took the message seriously and, as Espinoza and his friend were leaving the premises, a security guard proceeded to detain them for making a terrorist threat. Police then placed Espinoza under arrest while letting his friend go.

From there on, Espinoza’s situation quickly escalated, with the Las Vegas police notifying ICE following a policy in place since January 2025, on terms that the man was a “foreign-born individual.” 

The policy has led to thousands of similar reports. Espinoza, who has no criminal record and denies sending the text, was booked by ICE and held in the Nevada Southern Detention Center for a month. 

He told the Nevada Independent he felt an “ambient feeling of despair” throughout the ordeal.

Granted Voluntary Departure

Even after a judge granted him voluntary departure, allowing him to leave on his own terms, ICE reportedly kept him in custody. In a pre-dawn transfer to an Arizona facility, his family wasn’t notified, and he was ultimately dropped at the border in Nogales, Sonora, left to navigate life in Mexico on his own.

Espinoza could not qualify for DACA, which protects those brought to the US illegally as children, because the program stopped accepting new applicants before he would have become eligible.

The trip was meant to be a celebratory break before finishing college and pursuing his dream of teaching. He had extended the three-day getaway for an extra day at the Strat so a friend could try the SkyJump bungee ride.

Now living in Tijuana with an aunt, Espinoza says he has abandoned his dream of teaching in the United States. What started as a simple vacation became a life-altering experience he never imagined.