Our government is in the business of jailing confused grandmothers with no criminal history, according to reporting by Emily Bregel of the Arizona Daily Star.
Julia Benitez is 79. She has worsening dementia. She has been, for no reason other than our government’s contempt and disregard for all asylum seekers (unless they are white people from South Africa), kept in the Eloy Detention Center for the past nine months.
She is being ruthlessly, needlessly imprisoned despite fleeing from Cuba, a government that routinely is excoriated by President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and many other U.S. officials.
Yes, crossing the border without authorization is a misdemeanor. But our laws say that anyone has the right to request asylum once they’re on U.S. soil, or at a port of entry. Benitez was exercising her human right, and her right under international and U.S. laws, to seek protection here.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey wouldn’t be a progressive Democrat if she didn’t want to eliminate the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Her detention is a stain on this country.
Now, after Bregel’s story publicized Benitez’ plight, the government has even less justification to keep her away from her family, lawful residents, who want to take care of her.
Let her go.
Benitez is not the “worst of the worst.” She is not MS-13 or Tren de Aragua or a member of any other gang the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency would like to name to demonize her. She is a threat to absolutely no one. She is being held for no reason. It is an outrageous violation of human rights to keep her locked up.
Let her go.
Her detention begs the question of how many other similarly harmless and non-offending people are being detained in the same manner, and the answer, of course, is many. ICE has largely stopped using the power it has to release vulnerable people on a humanitarian basis, Bregel’s reporting revealed.
The number of elderly people with no criminal records arrested by immigration authorities in Arizona has increased fivefold since Trump’s second term began.
Let her go.
Groundhog Day's furry forecaster Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of wintry weather. What if we asked Phil to apply his insights to the frigid job market? He might answer the way an alarmed groundhog does, with chattering teeth, and then squeak, "Wheet! Wheet! Cold days are coming for American jobseekers, and they'll last a lot longer than six weeks."
To detain people like Benitez is a perversion of the government’s power. It calls into question every arrest ICE has made under Trump. How can the ICE supervisor responsible for her continued detention sleep at night? How can her jailers, the private firm CoreCivic, live with themselves?
If ICE released Benitez on humanitarian parole, it would be just for the duration of her immigration proceedings. It wouldn't affect whether or not she would be deported once her case is decided.
Let her go.
U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, alerted to Benitez’ plight by Bregel’s story, visited the woman, affectionately known as “la abuela” in the Eloy center’s walls.
The congresswoman cried when she saw what the government she is a part of had done.
Let her go.
Benitez thought when Grijalva visited her that it meant she was being released. When she realized Grijalva was leaving without her, she cried.
ICE has much to answer for, including the Minnesota deaths and countless unjustified and needlessly violent arrests. But speaking of the worst of the worst, not much is worse than locking up a harmless, ill elderly woman.
Let her go. Now.
