PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A local advocacy group is fighting for the release of Arbella \u201cYari\u201d Rodriguez Marquez from ICE custody at the Eloy Detention Center due to her health\u2019s rapid deterioration from cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re worried that she can be the next person that dies inside those migrant walls,\u201d said Sonix Flores, the Director of Media and Culture for Trans Queer Pueblo.<\/p>\n
Flores said Yari has been at the Eloy Detention Center for five months after she was detained on her way back from Mexico at a border checkpoint in February.<\/p>\n
She said Yari got her green card two years ago and was a permanent resident of Phoenix. However, her residency was revoked when she went into custody, according to Flores.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you were to ask anyone who\u2019s been through any illness or cancer, they\u2019ll say it\u2019s hard. Now, imagine that while isolated away from your family and in a facility that\u2019s not taking care of you correctly,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n
Yari has Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, and Flores said she\u2019s only getting basic medication that\u2019s not helping.<\/p>\n
\u201c(She\u2019s) lost 55 pounds. Her skin is having bruises and blotches. I actually personally saw her last Sunday and one thing that I noticed, and she showed me, was how swollen her hands were,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n
According to Flores, Yari was denied parole. Soon after, Flores started an online petition<\/a> urging the field director of Eloy to release Yari so she can get the medicine she needs before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, we\u2019re fighting for her life. That\u2019s how we see it,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n Arizona\u2019s Family reached out to the Eloy Detention Center and received an email response from a spokesperson who wrote, \u201cThe federal government\u2019s ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) is responsible for contracting, staffing and oversight of any medical and mental health services provided at EDC.\u201d<\/p>\n A media spokesperson for ICE acknowledged they received our request for comment, but Arizona\u2019s Family did not hear back again.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n