One day before serving her sentence, Gabby Solano, was transferred from the State Prison of Chowchilla, California to the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) Detention Center located in Aurora, Colorado with the In order to begin preparations for their deportation to Mexico.
“When they told me that they had come for me, it was the 30 March, but I was out until April 1. They told me to pack my things that it was time for parole. ” Restless as if she sensed something bad, she asked “who is coming for me… those from the office of Reentry to the Society, they answered me”.
Gabby’s instincts were right. When she left the prison with her few belongings, she was met by ICE agents who took her away. “They kept me like 10 hours in a cold office in Fresno where I it was freezing. From there they put me on a flight to Aurora, Colorado. They told me they were not taking me to Adelanto because there were no beds for women. ”
This immigrant held a telephone interview with The Opinion from the Aurora, Colorado Detention Center, 21 days after being transferred from Chowchilla State Prison to ICE, after serving a sentence of 22 years.
You currently have 48 years and was sentenced to two life sentences, at the age of 26 years, for a serious crime that occurred when in the company of her partner who was exercising domestic violence against her, a friend of his got involved in a street fight which ended in the death of a person. They made her a participant in the crime even when she had been pressured by the boyfriend to accompany him.
“ I got involved with people I shouldn’t have. I got carried away by peer pressure. I felt lonely and instead of talking with my parents, I trusted people who shouldn’t ”, she says.
He reveals that from the first day he entered prison he proposed to rehabilitate himself. “I stopped doing drugs. I’ve been 23 years in sobriety. I graduated from high school and completed two technical majors in behavioral and liberal sciences. I worked 12 years in the office of the women’s prison. ”
But he also set out to fight his long sentence; and in 937, in recognition of his effort to rehabilitate himself and serve others since his incarceration, got Governor Jerry Brown to commute its sentence to 20 years. This is how they released her on 30 March only to fall into the hands of ICE.
Knowing that she could be transferred to ICE, several pro-immigrant and civil rights groups were calling Governor Gavin Newsom not to hand her over to immigration agents.
Los Angeles Assemblywoman herself, Wendy Carrillo sent a letter to the governor to request his intervention and prevent his transfer , but there was no response.
“Delivering her to ICE, instead of letting her reunite with her family, after serving her sentence, is a betrayal to our values. Californians who don’t do things right the first time deserve a second chance, regardless of their background, ”the assemblywoman declared then.
Gabby was born in Guaymas, Sonora in Mexico. Her parents brought her to this country when she was 2 years old. “I grew up in the city of El Monte in Los Angeles County,” he relates.
And she says that she was a permanent resident before being sentenced, and assumes that they took away her residence when she entered prison and now they want to deport her to Mexico.
“ I am afraid to return to Mexico because all my life I have lived in this country. I have relatives there, but I haven’t lived with them in a long time. My parents and my sister live in San Bernardino and what I want is to be close to them ”.
His dream when he got out of prison was to be interpreter in court. “I have seen how many people are sentenced without understanding anything they are told. That is why I want to be an interpreter to help.”
Also She says that she would like to support and guide young people so that they do not get into trouble with the law as happened with her. “If I can prevent a child from going through what I am, I will.”
Despite her situation, Gabby says she is very grateful to all the groups that have advocated for her and do not want to fail them. “ I am going to fight to stay in this country and be with my parents. I’m not going to give up easily. I have learned from my mistakes. I fulfilled the sentence they imposed on me and I deserve a second chance. We all deserve it ”.
Gabby, who is also a survivor of domestic violence, has a hearing in the immigration court of Aurora, Colorado on May 5.
In Sacramento the bill advances AB 937 (Vision Act) of Assemblywoman Carrillo, which intends that any immigrant who is going to be released from prison state or local jail is not turned over to a detention center, and is instead reunited with your family and community. This specifically has to do with people who have served their sentence, on probation or with dismissed charges or have been released by a judge.
The Alliance for Boys and Men of Color revealed that transferring people to local jails to ICE cost $ 7.3 million last year.
People in prisons and detention are disproportionately African American and Latino. According to one study, deportees often face abuse and even death. In the case of El Salvador, at least 138 people were killed after their deportation.