Phoenix queer advocates denounce medical neglect in ICE prisons amid calls to release woman with leukemia

ELOY, Ariz. – It was just over 100 degrees outside of Eloy Detention Center on Thursday evening when about 40 people gathered to call for the release of Arabella “Yari” Rodríguez Márquez, a woman with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who has been held in the immigration prison for over a year. 

The vigil is one of many actions for Pride Month that Trans Queer Pueblo is putting on as the organization calls attention not just to Márquez’s case, but to all the unjustly detained queer individuals in detention centers across the country. 

CALÓ News has reported on the effort to release Márquez since July 2025, but to date, Márquez continues to be detained in Eloy. 

During her incarceration, her health condition has deteriorated, according to her loved ones: she’s been diagnosed with lymphedema, rheumatoid arthritis and severely inflamed lymph nodes — three in each leg — and her leukemia is worsening due to a lack of medical attention and proper treatment. 

According to Sonia Almaraz, her partner of over 12 years, she also has experienced medical negligence while in detention, including not being taken to two of her doctor appointments and only being given Tylenol to deal with her pain. On March 13, 2025, Márquez fell from a top bunk at the detention center and damaged her right hand. She was given a brace and it was not until March 13, 2026 — nearly a year later — that she was given access to an MRI.

“It was determined that the tendon damage resulted from her being made to wear a wrist brace for an extended period without a specialist ever being consulted,” said Almaraz. “The doctor informed Yari that, due to all these health conditions, she is officially medically disabled.”

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s medical care detention standards, detainees “will have access to a continuum of health care services, including prevention, health education, diagnosis, and treatment… (and) health care needs will be met in a timely and efficient manner.”

But there have been many reports, and even deaths in detention centers due to medical negligence. Just this year, at least 18 people have died in immigration detention centers across the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security's records. 

Almaraz fears that Márquez will be the next person to die in detention if she is not released. 

“Unfortunately, there is nothing she can do from inside there,” she said. “Despite her repeated requests for help and medical attention here at the Eloy facility, she has been denied proper treatment.”

Denouncing reported medical negligence

Márquez was first arrested while legally crossing from Mexico into the U.S. with Almaraz in February 2025, holding her green card. U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement agents accused them of having someone undocumented in their car, according to Sonix Flores, media coordinator and organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo.

Although charges were never filed, Márquez was stripped of her residency and transported to Eloy.

“Eloy Detention Center is a death trap,” Flores said. “Aside from Yari, many people are dying there, or are being punished and thrown into solitary confinement as a form of repression for speaking out or demanding their rights. We are here to denounce and call out all these abuses against our community.”

Karla Saenz, a trans Afro-Venezuelan woman, migrated to the United States, fleeing transphobia and racism in Venezuela in hopes that her life could be different here. On March 9, she was detained after a scheduled visit to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Phoenix to provide her fingerprints following a legal name change.

She spent 44 days in Eloy Detention Center, she said on Thursday, and highlighted her and many other trans women's experience in detention — medical neglect, inhumane conditions and retaliation for speaking up for their rights. She was given medication she didn’t need and was verbally abused. 

On the first day of his second term, Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring people in federal custody to be placed in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth, not their gender identity.

LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive people are particularly vulnerable to abuse in immigration detention, experiencing high rates of physical and sexual violence, improper and prolonged solitary confinement and inadequate medical care, among other forms of systemic abuse and neglect, according to a report by Immigration Equality. 

“The medical negligence that exists, not only for us trans women, but for the entire migrant community, is enormous,” Saenz said. “As is the discrimination and racism that exists there, from the guards, from the officers, from the nurses, from the doctors — it's very serious.” 

With a track record of inadequate compliance with health and safety standards, insufficient health care and limited oversight, the detention of over 60,000 people across the country has further strained the care those in custody can receive and has exacerbated the systemic issues that existed in detention centers before the Trump administration influx.

This year, there have been an unprecedented number of suicides in immigration detention centers and reports that those who express suicidal thoughts are put into solitary confinement, a practice that worsens their mental health. 

Present at the vigil was Renata, a trans woman who was held in Florence Detention Center for seven months alongside Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian man who died earlier this year due to a tooth infection. In her experience, medical negligence affects everyone in detention. 

“I was a witness to how Florence Correction Center killed him,” she said. “We repeatedly asked the guards for help, but they ignored us. Both the medical staff and the guards disregarded our pleas. I personally demanded that they provide urgent medical care (to him), as did other detainees. When we saw that no one was taking action, three other detainees and I blocked the cell entrance in protest, forcing the guards to take Emmanuel’s medical emergency seriously.”

Eventually, Damas was taken to the hospital, but it was too late. He died on March 2, 2026. 

“I refuse to stay silent, because it could have been me,” she said. 

‘Release Yari now.’

After repeated calls to release Márquez, and with seemingly no release date in sight, Almaraz will continue to fight for her partner to be released alongside Trans Queer Pueblo.

“Yari is a truly noble and kind person. She is loving and calm, someone deeply cherished by the community. She is hardworking. I would say she is an exemplary person, the kind of person you rarely come across,” Almaraz said. “Release Yari now.” 

As part of the “No Pride in Detention” month of action, the organization is hosting several events, including a letter-writing workshop to ICE detainees on June 11, an art night on June 18 and a larger press conference on June 22. These actions are set to take place in Phoenix.

Another vigil will be held in front of Eloy Detention Center on June 28 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Susan Barnett is an independent journalist in southern Arizona covering the immigrant and Latine community. She is a recent graduate from the University of Arizona, where she received her Master of Arts in Bilingual Journalism. She previously worked at La Estrella de Tucson and co-founded Tucson Spotlight.