Detained by ICE, a Phoenix woman with leukemia faces death without medical care

Arbella Rodríguez Márquez, known as “Yari” to her friends and family, is a legal permanent resident in Phoenix, who lives with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Rodríguez Márquez, 39, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Feb. 10. Now she is being held at the Eloy Detention Center, the largest ICE prison in the state, where she has been for the last five months. There, she is not receiving proper medical care for her leukemia, a type of cancer that targets white blood cells and bone marrow. As a result, her health is rapidly deteriorating. Her partner, Sonia Almaraz, worries she may not make it out alive. 

“In the past five months, she has lost 55 pounds, her hands are swollen and her health worsens every day inside the violent place,” Almaraz said. “Her body is beginning to collapse, she’s experiencing swelling, blotches, bruises, fatigue, and extreme dehydration due to the lack of medical care and proper treatment.”

She has been living in the US for over 20 years and has been a legal resident for 2 years.

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Almaraz and Rodríguez Márquez were stopped at the Nogales border crossing on their way back into the US, from a trip to Mexico. Almaraz said Rodríguez Márquez has no criminal record.

As they were passing through the port of entry, their vehicle was directed to an inspection point, where Almaraz and Rodríguez Márquez were removed from the vehicle and separated, she told The Copper Courier. 

“They isolated me in a cage for four hours without telling me what was going on, me being a citizen,” Almaraz said. Once she was released, Almaraz was not able to locate Rodríguez Márquez for two days, but eventually received a call from Rodríguez Márquez at the Eloy Detention Center. 

Her partner of 13 years, Almaraz, who is a US citizen, is fighting for her release with the support of Trans Queer Pueblo, a community organization of over 500 LGBTQ migrants, indigenous and Afro-Latinx people in Phoenix.

Arbella “Yari” Rodríguez Márquez (left) and Sonia Almaraz (right). (Photo courtesy of Trans Queer Pueblo)

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Her permanent residency was revoked by a federal immigration judge, and she has been denied parole, despite her life-threatening medical conditions, according to Almaraz and Trans Queer Pueblo.  

The detention center staff has either been unwilling or unable to give Rodríguez Márquez the medical care that she needs, Almaraz said. 

The Eloy Detention Center she is being held in is one of the deadliest civil detention facilities in the country, according to Detention Watch Network. “I am worried that if she is not released, Yari will be the next death in the Eloy Detention Center,” Almaraz said. 

US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) visited the Eloy Detention Center, unannounced, in May, where detained immigrants housed at the prison described harrowing and inhumane treatment. 

Almaraz visits Rodríguez Márquez every week—they can only speak for one hour, and are permitted one hug and one kiss. 

“It just actually gets you, it takes your life, it destroys everything, when I say everything I’m talking about your day to day life, your emotions, your mental health, economically, your job, family,” she told The Copper Courier. 

In April, Almaraz found emotional support at Trans Queer Pueblo, among other organizations like Semillas Arizona, which has been helping her push forward and fight for her partner’s release. 

“It was just devastating, and nobody explaining what was going on or the reason why we were being detained, devastating, stressful, scary at the same time,” Almaraz told The Copper Courier. She asked every officer who she came into contact with why they were detained, and received no information, even when she was eventually released hours later.  

“Yari is so much more than the way she’s treated by this government. She and I have always served a community,” Almaraz said. “I dream of the moment when Yari finally walks free and we can return to the life we have built.” 

Despite her condition, Rodríguez Márquez has no intention of throwing in the towel.

“I’m not giving up. That has never been one of my qualities,” she said in a statement released by Trans Queer Pueblo.