FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Advocates, community members and family members rallied on January 19 to demand ICE release asylum seeker Ms. Q and halt all deportation efforts
NEW YORK, NY — Ms. Q, a long-time New York State resident, is facing imminent and unjust deportation in retaliation for her activism. Ms. Q’s partner and her family gathered with immigration advocates at Foley Square on Wednesday, January 19, to call for her immediate release from ICE detention at Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, NY and an end to ICE’s deportation efforts. Photos from the rally available for download (credit Envision Freedom Fund).
“Everything I was working for—my life, my freedom — was taken from me. They may have taken my freedom but they can’t stop me from doing what’s right and speaking the truth,” Ms. Q shared from detention in a statement released to her attorney. “I am going to keep on fighting so no more immigrants go through everything I went—and am still going—through.”
Ms. Q was injured during a violent immigration arrest in 2021 and was subsequently denied medical care in ICE detention. She bravely spoke out about this treatment, and thanks to community and legal advocacy, was released a year ago. Post-release, Ms. Q continued to shed light on the horrific conditions inside ICE detention that impact hundreds of immigrant New Yorkers every day. Recently re-detained by ICE, she is facing looming deportation to Ecuador, where she experienced horrific violence as a child.
“I beg the people that have her detained to let her go free. She is a good sister, a role model for my kids, her three nieces and three nephews…She is a sister, a friend, an aunt that you could count whenever we needed her. We all miss her so much. Especially for victims like us, back in our country we have nothing,” stated Ms. Q’s sister in a statement.
“We demand the immediate release of Ms. Q and an end to ICE’s unrelenting harassment,” said Tania Mattos, director of advocacy and policy at Envision Freedom Fund. “Ms. Q deserves to live a life of freedom, without the constant fear of deportation or the retraumatization of ICE detention. All human beings deserve this peace. And unfortunately, Ms. Q’s story is just one example of our violent immigration system. Not only do we call on ICE to release Ms. Q to her family, friends, partner and community, but we urge New York to pass the Dignity Not Detention Act to end the monstrosity that is ICE detention.”
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The Dignity Not Detention working group is an extension of the Abolish ICE NY NJ Coalition and includes representatives from the following New York based organizations: Envision Freedom Fund, Freedom for Immigrants, Showing Up for Racial Justice – NYC Chapter, Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, New York State Youth Leadership Council, New York Lawyers For The Public Interest, Rochester Rapid Response Network, Center for Constitutional Rights, Democratic Socialists of America – NYC Chapter, Catholic Charities, Survived and Punished New York, Families For Freedom, The Bronx Defenders, and Critical Resistance NYC.