Trapped between accusations and time - the harrowing case of Yari Rodríguez Márquez

For ten months, Arbella “Yari” Rodríguez Márquez has been held at the Eloy Detention Center. Ten months in which her body has visibly deteriorated while authorities, operators and politicians argue over whether she is sick or not. Yari is 47 years old, holds a valid green card and lived a stable life until she was pulled out of a car at the border near Nogales in February. Since then, nothing has been stable. She has lost around 70 pounds, her hands have gone numb, her legs and feet are swollen. Sometimes she needs help getting dressed, sometimes even to take a few steps.

Her life partner Sonia Almaraz sees this decline week after week. During visits, she waits until Yari has sat down, waits until she can stand up again, because every movement is painful. She is not receiving medication for leukemia. Instead she is given painkillers, fever reducers and medication for an alleged stomach ulcer that she never had. Before her detention, her chronic lymphocytic leukemia was stable. Today it is not. Lawmakers report that during visits she coughed up blood and vomited blood.

The agency’s counterstatement is harsh, dismissive and internally inconsistent. Even the medications prescribed for illnesses she does not have raise questions. ICE publicly declares that Yari is lying. She is described as a criminal, illegal migrant from Mexico who is merely claiming to have cancer. Yet the cancer diagnosis is clearly documented. We remind readers that she holds a valid green card. ICE says she has been seen by doctors several times, including by an oncologist. Fernando X. Burgos Ortiz, a spokesperson for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, speaks of at least 13 appointments and calls the allegations an attempt to mislead the public. When asked which doctor is responsible for her care, there was silence. At the same time, ICE warns of allegedly sharply increased attacks on officers and mixes this claim into the specific case.

The accusation that led to Yari’s detention is smuggling. ICE claims she attempted to bring a person with fraudulent documents through the Nogales port of entry. Yari and Almaraz say something different. They say the passenger lied and that they were deceived. Yari says she was a victim of fraud, not a perpetrator. Almaraz was in the car herself when both were detained. At that time, Yari was a lawful permanent resident. A status that can only be revoked if it is determined that it should never have been granted.

As the legal dispute continues, the medical issue moves ever further to the forefront. For Yassamin Ansari, a member of the US Congress who therefore has oversight and visitation rights with regard to federal agencies such as ICE, the case is clear. She is not calling for the end of the proceedings, but for release with an ankle monitor so that Yari can be taken to a hospital. This is not about politics, Ansari says, but about the fact that no one should die in state custody because help is being withheld. The contradictory statements from ICE, ranging from she is healthy to side effects to she is lying, are alarming. Either she is sick or she is not. It cannot be both.

Other politicians from Arizona have also visited the facility. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly have expressed concern about conditions in Eloy, a place where there have already been several deaths and suicides. The number of deaths in ICE custody this year is the highest in decades, four of them in Arizona alone. While there were 30 known deaths as of December 23, the number has risen to 38 as of today. The operator of the facility, CoreCivic, rejects all criticism. It says all standards are being met, inspections are regular and staff dedication is a point of pride. To Almaraz, this sounds like mockery. After public attention, as we have since been able to establish, Yari was even moved to another housing unit where conditions are said to be worse and personal care items were denied. She sees this as punishment for making the case public.

There is another aspect that is rarely discussed but is felt daily. Yari is a lesbian woman. Other detainees report separation, harassment and daily discrimination against LGBTQ+ people by staff. This further deepens her isolation as her body grows weaker. Even today, all of us are still trying to gain at least access to her, and an immigration lawyer has been engaged. This is no longer about abstract responsibilities. It is simply about human dignity. It is about time. Almaraz says that every week she sees a different Yari. Every week she gets worse. No one has the right to deny her the chance of treatment. No matter how her case is ultimately decided.