📢 Don't Look Away: Our Government Is Abducting People and Stomping on the Rule of Law
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A Community Organizer Targeted
On Sunday, August 3, 2025, Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago—a DACA recipient, beloved community member, and long-time community organizer—was abducted by Border Patrol agents at the El Paso International Airport. She was not sneaking across a border, nor committing a crime. She was about to board a domestic flight for work when two Border Patrol officers stopped her, demanded her papers, and ignored the fact that she presented a valid DACA work authorization card.
Without a warrant, without probable cause, and without justification, she was taken into custody.
This is not law enforcement. This is a state-sanctioned abduction. And if we look away, if we shrug our shoulders, we are accepting a government that treats constitutional protections as optional and immigrant lives as disposable.
Xóchitl has dedicated over a decade to defending immigrant communities in Florida, Texas, and beyond. She is not just another case file in the system—she is a leader, a sister, a friend, a fighter for dignity. That is precisely why she is being targeted. DHS and Border Patrol are not simply enforcing immigration law. They are making an example of her, seeking to intimidate Dreamers and immigrant organizers into silence.
Her organizing team reports that despite her valid DACA protections, immigration officials have charged her with "unlawful entry." This appears to be an outright fabrication, a chilling indication that the Trump administration is shifting toward criminalizing DACA holders—young people who were promised protection from deportation under the law. As one immigrant rights group warned, "We will not stand by as young people, whose home is here, are ripped away from their lives" (Urban Milwaukee, 2025).
Just a friendly reminder: DACA is our nation's promise—a recognition that children should never be punished for their parents' decisions in seeking a better life. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, created by President Barack Obama in June 20121, was meant to protect undocumented immigrants brought here as children—our "Dreamers"—from deportation and to give them the chance to work, study, and live openly in the only country most have ever called home. For more than a decade, DACA has been a lifeline, a shield, and a beacon of hope for hundreds of thousands of young people who contribute deeply to our communities.
But let's be clear: we failed them. Congress has refused to pass meaningful immigration reform, leaving Dreamers in a constant state of fear. Now, under Trump's second administration, DACA is under direct attack. There is a very real threat that Dreamers—who have lived here for 13 years under the promise of safety—will be torn from their families and deported to countries they do not know, where they may not even speak the language. To snatch young people from the lives they built here and treat them as criminals is not just cruel—it is a betrayal of America's word and America's values.
Detention Is Deadly
Xóchitl is being detained at the notorious El Paso Processing Center, a facility with a documented history of abuse and denial of rights. Reports from inside describe a lack of clean drinking water, the absence of medical attention, and visitation restricted to one day a week. Amnesty International has previously highlighted these inhumane conditions. Detention is not just unjust—it is dangerous. Every single day behind bars threatens the health and lives of those held.
Trump's second administration is already on track to preside over the deadliest year in immigration detention history. That reality is not an accident; it is the direct result of policies that treat immigrants as enemies of the state rather than human beings.
Criminalization as a Weapon
The Department of Homeland Security has failed to produce evidence against Xóchitl, claiming "unlawful entry" while floating inflammatory language designed to smear her character. This follows DHS’s long pattern of criminalizing immigrants and activists, particularly Black and Brown working-class people who already face disproportionate targeting under our biased criminal-legal system.
But the truth is clear: Xóchitl is not a criminal. She is being punished for her activism. She has spoken out against ICE and CBP abuses, participated in direct actions, and fought for her community's right to live without fear. That is why she is in detention today. And that is why we cannot look away.
This case is about much more than one person. It is about whether our government can abduct someone with legal protections, hold them incommunicado, and without evidence and without the right to due process—without consequence. It is about whether we will defend the rule of law or allow authoritarianism to advance one abduction at a time.
Don't Look Away
Xóchitl belongs at home, with her community and her loved ones—not in a detention center where her health and rights are at constant risk. Her detention is unlawful. Her treatment is inhumane. Her targeting is political.
We demand her immediate release. We demand an end to the terror campaign waged by ICE and CBP. And we demand that this country live up to the rule of law by protecting, not persecuting, those who fight for justice.
Because if they can come for Xóchitl, they can come for anyone. Don't look away.
Today’s Calls to Action
Sign-up for the
Virtual Vigil for Dignity Not Detention – We Stand with Dreamers
Tuesday, August 26th, 6:30 – 7:30pm EDT, Click here to sign-up
Click here to send a letter to your Member of Congress and demand the release of all detainees who are not violent criminals, honor our promise to keep Dreamers safe, and pass immigration reform.
Click here to sign the petition: Free Xóchitl! Community Organizer and DACA Recipient Detained at Texas Airport
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Click here to Shut Down Trump's "Alligator Alcatraz" Concentration Camp
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals
WE MUST STOP THIS ABDUCTION AND DETAINING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE! The DACA recipients deserve to have "their promise" fulfilled now, so they are no longer kept "in limbo". Thank you, Laurie, for your reporting and encouragement!
Where are the people who can stop this? Their hands are tied?