6/16/22 UPDATE
Marisela Andrade maintained her dignity, courage, and strength during a grueling 4-hour immigration court hearing on June 15, 2022. With more than 50 community supporters on the phone, Marisela made her case for asylum based on the Conventions Against Torture (CAT) and then was questioned by Immigration Judge Elizabeth McGrail and Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) attorney Matt Richardson. Marisela then presented her two witnesses: Jaime Leyva, a case manager with Community Justice Center in Fresno, CA; and Dr. Susan Wilde, a clinical psychologist from Berkeley, CA, with experience working with DV and Human Trafficking survivors.
While the DHS attorney asserted that he did not think Marisela successfully met the ‘burden of proof’, Judge McGrail said she needed to deliberate and will provide a written ruling in 2 to 3 weeks. She acknowledged the strong representation Marisela provided for herself, and the impressive community support she has. Judge McGrail asked Mari if she wished to speak to her community supporters. Marisela told us, “I love you all and appreciate that you are here. I know I am not standing alone.”
DV and LWOP Survivor Marisela Andrade handed over to ICE!!
Early in the morning on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, the California Dept. Corrections and rehabilitation (CDCr) transferred CCWP member Marisela Andrade over to ICE agents instead of releasing her on parole.
Marisela, a survivor of domestic violence and a LWOP sentence, was expected to be released on Sunday, Dec. 5th, from the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla after more than 14 years in prison. Friends and supporters were ready to pick her up and help her get to the Fresno Reentry program she was assigned to. Instead, CDCr cruelly handed her over to ICE. She was held overnight in a temporary ICE detention center in Fresno that had no beds or decent sanitation facilities.
Marisela is now in Aurora, CO, where our compañeras Patti Waller Medina and Gabi Solano were also held. Her immigration attorney will be filing a Release Order in the hope we can bring her home to CA to continue fighting for legal status in the US.
We must pass the Vision Act (AB 937)! This would prevent the cruel double punishment of all people who have completed their sentence or are released on parole from facing detention and deportation.
#STOP ICE #Pass The Vision Act!
SEND Marisela SOME LOVE:
Marisela Andrade De Zarate A#074-816-783
Aurora ICE Processing Center
3130 North Oakland Street, Aurora, CO 80010
(303) 361-6612
Caring Collectively for People
in Women’s Prisons
We monitor and challenge the abusive conditions inside California women’s prisons.
We fight for the release of women and trans prisoners.
We support women and trans people in their process of re-entering the community.
| And… thank you to everyone who joined our special virtual event honoring founding CCWP member, Charisse Shumate! |
| Watch the event recording here. Learn more about Charisse and her life’s work here. |
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