BREAKING: Federal Judge Grants Freedom to Activist Alejandra Pablos From Immigration Detention

She is scheduled to be released within hours from the judgement, approximately at 11:30 AM PST. Alejandra’s release will be broadcasted on Social media via Mijente.

Eloy, AZ – A federal immigration judge at Eloy Detention Center has declared that Alejandra Pablos is eligible to pay a bond of $8,000. She is scheduled to be released from the detention center within an hour from the judgement. Because Alejandra’s detention sparked national attention, supporters who traveled to attend her court hearing are gathering in Tucson, Arizona to celebrate her release.

“This is a clear example where organizing and mobilizing in support of our community member works,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, Field Director at Mijente and head of Alejandra’s organizing campaign. “Now we turn that same energy and turn it to ask Governor Ducey for a pardon for Alejandra, which would allow her to have a chance at staying home and winning the fight against her deportation,” she concluded.

Alejandra still has to continue to fight against her deportation case. Her individual asylum hearing is scheduled for December 2018. Alejandra’s immigration case is complicated in part because of prior criminal history. If Governor Ducey were to pardon Alejandra for these charges from a decade ago, she would have a chance to fight to  remain home in the US with her family and community.

Alejandra is yet another name added to the growing list of immigrant rights and human rights defenders in the United States who have been targeted by ICE for deportation. On March 07, 2018, ICE took Pablos into custody and has been detaining her at the Eloy Detention Center in southern Arizona,sparking a national outcry. Her case is one of several around the country of activists targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation.

Pablos was one of the first members of Mijente, a national Latinx political organization, which is heading the campaign for her release. She  works as a Field Coordinator for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, where she organizes to raise the voices of Latinas in Virginia for policy change at all levels of government on issues that impact their lives, women’s health care, and other social justice issues.

“Alejandra is a fearless and dedicated leader who has fought tirelessly for the Latinx community in the areas of reproductive justice, immigration, LGBTQ liberation, and an end to mass incarceration.  While she has been freed on bond, we have to continue to fight her deportation case in order for her to stay in the country she calls home,” stated Jessica González-Rojas, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. “All of us at NLIRH—from our activists on the ground to our staff in our various national offices— admire Alejandra and draw on her power and resilience for inspiration. During her detention, we missed her sorely and are more than elated to have her home with us to give us the strength to continue this all too important fight,” she concluded.

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Mijente is a digital and grassroots hub for Latinx and Chicanx movement building and organizing that seeks to increase the profile of policy issues that matter to our communities and increase the participation of Latinx and Chicanx people in the broader movements for racial, economic, climate and gender justice.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is the only national reproductive justice organization dedicated to building Latina power to advance health, dignity, and justice for 28 million Latinas, their families, and communities in the United States through leadership development, community mobilization, policy advocacy, and strategic communication.