Friends and colleagues of an El Paso-based immigration rights activist and community organizer are calling for her immediate release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after her arrest.
Supporters of Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago gathered outside the ICE processing facility on Montana Avenue to hold a vigil to call for her immediate release on Aug. 6. Santiago, who is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, recipient, is currently being held in the facility ahead of deportation.
"Xóchitl has spent her entire life in this country," said Hilda Villegas, who worked alongside Santiago as part of La Mujer Obrera. "She is a very intelligent person and she has used her intelligence to help people. She has been very selfless and she has given a lot to the community. It is not right to hold her hostage and away from us. We want her back"
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The vigil was attended by immigration rights groups, county and city officials, Commissioner David Stout and city Rep. José Acevedo, and the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, including Bishop Mark Seitz.
"Xóchitl is well known in the community; she has worked for a good while in support of the most needy in our community," Seitz said. "I am very concerned about the way that we're treating immigrant people in our country… We are here to say that she deserves an opportunity to make her case without being incarcerated."
Santiago was detained by two U.S. Border Patrol agents Aug. 3 at the El Paso International Airport as she waited for a flight. She was carrying work authorization documents at the time of her detention, said friends and colleagues who launched a GoFundMe account to support her legal fees.
Video of Santiago's arrest was posted to X by Movimento Cosecha.
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Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Santiago was arrested and set for deportation over charges of "trespassing, possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia."
A Nexis/Lexis search done by the El Paso Times found a non-specified charge in Graham County, Arizona, from 2020. But the emotional gathering challenged this DHS-led attacks against Santiago during the afternoon vigil, saying that this does not define her.
"We are angry and indignant how this administration has attacked her image. They have condemned her without fair process," Villegas said. "She is not that. She is a good ally."
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Trump's attacks on DACA
Children who were brought to the United States illegally were granted deferred action on their immigration status during President Barack Obama's administration. The action granted those children legal status. But the Trump administration has looked to strip the benefits recipients of DACA have received, placing them at risk of deportation, especially if they are accused of a crime.
“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations," McLaughlin said in a statement. "DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime."
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DHS has encouraged DACA recipients to self deport to countries that they have never known, McLaughlin said in her statement. But this push to drive immigrants out of the country, along with deportations, raises concerns for immigrant rights advocates.
"I am concerned because our nation has been built on the strong belief that it's not the government that gives rights, but rather a person has rights by the virtue of their humanity," Seitz said. "We are concerned about the way people are being summarily sent to extremely dangerous situations, which they, in large, fled."
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:[email protected]; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Immigration rights groups in Texas call for release of activist
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