Newsom urged to stop ICE from detaining a DV survivor. Prison officials turned her over
Marisela Andrade, a survivor of domestic violence, was expected to be released Sunday from the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla after more than 11 years in prison — but advocates say California officials turned her over early to immigration agents.
Andrade, 44, has ties to the Fresno area where she has family, and where she was set to do a reintegration program with WestCare, advocates told The Bee earlier this week.
Pamela Fadem, a longtime advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials handed over Andrade to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday morning.
Fadem said Andrade is being held in Fresno but is expected to be transported to Colorado.
“We will continue to fight for her freedom,” Fadem said.
Andrade was imprisoned for her role in the death of her husband. Fadem said she and others had planned to wait for Andrade at the gate on Sunday, in the hope ICE wouldn’t whisk her away. She said Andrade has been in the U.S. for more than 20 years, and doesn’t have legal documentation.
“That’s one of the reasons why she never reported the abuse,” she said.
Last week, a petition with nearly 12,000 signatures was submitted to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office asking Newsom to stop ICE from detaining Andrade upon her release.
The petition urged Newsom to pardon Andrade, who had her life without parole sentence commuted by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 to 15 years to life in prison. Andrade was found suitable for parole in March 2021 — becoming part of the 17% of cases that were granted parole in the first 10 months of the year, data shows.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office confirmed to The Bee the petition was submitted. “The governor’s office has no further comment on the case and typically does not comment on pending legal matters,” the spokesperson said.
Fadem said Andrade had an ICE detainer. She said only because someone wasn’t born in the U.S., they shouldn’t have to “face a double punishment.”
“It’s a double punishment and it’s a double standard,” she told The Bee. “It is not right. We are priding ourselves in this country, allegedly, for equal rights and they should be equal.”
Stephanie Medina is a senior immigration paralegal working with attorney Trevor Kosmo at Centro Legal de la Raza on Andrade’s case.
Last week, Medina said Andrade’s release date was Nov. 26, but three days before, CDCR officials informed Andrade her release date had been pushed back to this upcoming Sunday.
Medina said the reason Andrade was given for the delay was that it was due to a clerical error, but CDCR officials didn’t specify what the error was.
“It’s just very interesting because Marisela’s case, in general, does raise a lot of questions about the state of California backdoor-dealing with ICE,” Medina told The Bee last week. “We know that in the past, CDCR has held people past their release date in order to facilitate ICE arresting them at the most convenient time for ICE.”
Kosmo last week said he was trying to find out more answers about Andrade’s case.
ICE officials early on Friday said “it takes time to research a person’s case” to answer questions. The Bee is awaiting confirmation from CDCR on Andrade’s transfer.
Dana Simas, press secretary for CDCR, on Thursday said officials were still looking into Andrade’s case to answer questions surrounding the Nov. 26 release date.
Andrade suffered abuse by her ex-husband
Andrade and a man identified as Sergio Delacruz planned to kill Andrade’s abusive husband identified as Jose Zarate, according to records. In April 2008, Andrade gave Zarate sleeping pills, and Delacruz tied him up, “put him in the trunk of a car, and drove him to a remote location” where he shot and killed Zarate. Andrade was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in September 2010.
Andrade’s husband abused her for years and forced her to “perform sexual services for other men.”
“Despite her very traumatic past, Ms. Andrade came to prison and immediately started changing her life,” according to records.
According to the petition, Andrade was 15 when she fell in love with the person who would become her husband at the age of 18.
”The day of my wedding the domestic violence began,” Andrade says in the petition she helped write.
Andrade is a survivor of severe physical, emotional and sexual violence, Fadem said.
“Nobody thinks it’s a good idea to kill a spouse,” Fadem said. “But nobody thinks it’s a good idea for somebody to have to live through that kind of abuse, either.”
CDCR transfers people to ICE
On Sept. 30, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memo calling on immigration officers to use “prosecutorial discretion” to focus on people who “pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security.” The memo also outlines criteria for cases, such as evidence of rehabilitation.
If any information collected by CDCR that indicates an inmate may be a foreign national, CDCR staff send the inmate’s information to ICE.
Simas initially said she was unable to confirm information about ICE detainers for incarcerated people. Officials, she said, also don’t confirm release dates for security reasons.
“CDCR complies with enacted law under (Senate Bill) 54, and cooperates with any local, state or federal law enforcement agency that has an active warrant or detainer for an incarcerated person,” she said in a statement to The Bee last week.
SB 54, prohibits local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants, though certain offenses give agencies discretion to work with immigration agents.
Other people have found themselves in a similar situation as Andrade’s. One of them was Gabriela Solano, 48, a lawful permanent resident and also a survivor of domestic violence. She was transferred to ICE in March after being released on parole, and was then deported to Mexico. She’s now the main plaintiff in a federal class action lawsuit.
Last month, ICE out of California Coalition captured a video of Bihn Vo, a Vietnamese refugee, being picked up by ICE after being released on parole.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 1:05 PM.
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