Alejandra Pablos, a prominent Latinx activist, has been detained by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in retaliation for her immigrants’ rights work.
The Phoenix New Times reports that Pablos was detained Wednesday morning by the Tuscon office of ICE in relation to trespassing charges filed against her during a peaceful protest at an ICE office in Virginia in early January. An ICE officer in Virginia specifically called Pablos’ deportation officer in Tuscon to single her out for her role in that protest, according to her fellow activists. The activist group Mijente posted a grainy video of Pablos to Facebook before she was taken away. “They’re trying to really separate me and tear our movement apart, tear our community apart, and I’m not letting that happen,” Pablos says in the video.
Alejandra Pablos is a field organizer for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and a member of the activist group Mijente. She was featured in BUST’s #ShoutYourAbortion fashion editorial in our February/March 2018 issue (photo above). She was a legal, permanent resident until a drug-related arrest jeopardized that status and placed her in deportation proceedings. She has had to check in with ICE every three months since then. It was at one of these mandatory meetings that she was taken into custody. She says in the aforementioned video, “They lied to me. I went into there in good faith and am doing everything that I can. It’s been a long time that I’ve been going through this case.” Pablos is seeking asylum because deportation to Mexico would put her in severe danger as a political organizer.
Pablos is currently being held at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She can’t be released or pay bond until she goes before an immigration judge, and no date has been set for that, so she’s being held indefinitely. You can show your support for Alejandra Pablos by signing an online petition posted by Mijente.
Top photo by Tawni Bannister
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