During a DEMOCRACY NOW! interview on Wednesday, Alejandra Pablos talked about her experience being detained at Eloy in Arizona, as well as why she thinks Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained her. Pablos was recently released, after a national campaign raised awareness about her case.
“I was in Eloy Detention Center because Trump has his own personal police force, which is ICE,” Pablos told DEMOCRACY NOW! “They’re enacting all his white supremacist agenda. People—all our community right now are being deported, especially working people and, like you said, activists. And I was simply detained because of an arrest at a peaceful protest in Virginia. I haven’t even been convicted. But I was there fighting for my redetermination of custody.”
Later in the interview, Pablos added the following: “I was there, like I said, simply for the arrest in Virginia. And those 42 days, I was able to see how community organizing works, how folks were able to support me and demand and pressure them to release me. There was no reason for me to be there. I have been—I haven’t had any incidents related to drug or alcohol, right? Because that’s why I’m also—I’ve been targeted, not only because of my human rights activism and my advocacy for reproductive justice, but also because I have a criminal record. And I’ve been here since I was a baby. You know, I made some mistakes as a young person, and I’m still being targeted for that. And that’s why I’m also—we’re also asking for Governor Ducey to give me a pardon in Arizona. A pardon will allow me to stay here permanently with my entire U.S. citizen family, and it will allow me to continue my social justice work here, in the only place that I call my home. This is where my loved ones are. This is where I belong.”
