‘She’s dying inside Eloy’: Community demands that ICE release Phoenix resident with leukemia

Outside a mint-blue casita in the Garfield neighborhood in central Phoenix, LGBTQ+ advocates from Trans Queer Pueblo gathered on Thursday to demand the release of their friend — a Phoenix resident with leukemia who has been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Eloy Detention Center, where her health has continued to deteriorate due to a lack of adequate medical care, advocates say.

“Yari isn’t just detained. She’s dying inside Eloy,” Sonia Almaraz said during the press conference about her partner and best friend of over 10 years, Arbella “Yari” Rodríguez Márquez. “For eight months, I have visited her every weekend, and every time she gets worse… Her spirit is breaking.” 

This was not Almaraz’s first time speaking into the microphone to share details about Márquez’s case. In July, Trans Queer Pueblo, along with Mass Liberation AZ, Semillas Arizona and Poder in Action, set in motion the fight for Márquez’s release from ICE detention. 

They held a press conference highlighting the life-threatening risks Márquez faces as a lesbian woman diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia — a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow — being held in one of the country’s deadliest detention centers, according to the Detention Watch Network, where abuse of LGBTQ+ individuals and inadequate medical care have been widely reported.

What began with Almaraz sharing Márquez’s story through a platform provided by Trans Queer Pueblo, a Phoenix-based abolitionist group that advocates for LGBTQ+ migrants, Indigenous and Afro-descendant people, has since drawn national attention with state and local representatives calling for medical intervention.

Fear of Márquez becoming the next deadly victim at Eloy

A musician of a Phoenix-based band known as “Dyvano,” Marquez was detained with Almaraz after crossing the border from Mexico at a Nogales port of entry earlier this year. 

The petition for Márquez's release from detention — a campaign that has gathered nearly 2,000 signatures — gained urgency after she confirmed that cancer treatment had not been provided, according to Almaraz. These conditions have led to the deterioration of her health.

“Her body swelling. Her weight down 70 pounds. I’ve seen her nose bleed. I’ve seen her cough blood on her hands,” Almaraz said at the press conference about Márquez’s health. “The last time I saw her, she was too weak to walk. She needed a wheelchair.”

Her loved ones, along with LGBTQ+ advocates and state and local representatives, share that fear.

“Arbella Rodríguez Márquez will be the next death in Eloy Detention Center if she's not released immediately,” Nicole Castro from Trans Queer Pueblo said during the press conference.

Marquez’s case echoes those of others who have faced neglect at the same facility, like Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, an HIV-positive Ethiopian man who died in January after being held in the Eloy Detention Center, according to ICE records.

Immunocompromised individuals are more vulnerable to contracting life-threatening infections in detention settings, experts told the Project on Government Oversight. That risk increases when facilities become overcrowded — a persistent issue since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and push for mass deportations have driven many detention centers to capacity. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, 84 of the 181 detention centers exceeded their contractual capacity from October 2024 through April 2025, per ICE data.

His death from complications related to multiple infections due to HIV joined the list of more than 20 migrants who have died in ICE custody or immigration detention centers this year — the deadliest year since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the American Immigration Council.

The case has also raised concerns about medical care standards in immigrant detention facilities because HIV is a treatable condition that, with proper medical care, allows individuals to live long, healthy lives. Of the 52 deaths reported between 2017 and 2021 in immigration detention centers, 95% were preventable, according to extensive research of medical reports by the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“We don't know why God perhaps wanted us to be his instruments for some reason or why he has put us through this situation,” Almaraz said in an interview with CALÓ News. “But we do know that he is giving us the strength to fight and move forward, and perhaps not only to help Yari, but many more people.” 

‘There should be no need for congressional intervention to make this happen’

U.S. House Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) joined the fight for Marquez’s release, along with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Arizona House Rep. Maria Sandoval, who demanded that ICE provide her with appropriate medical treatment. 

Outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Ansari held a press conference to advocate for an oncologist appointment for Marquez. According to the Congress member, during her visit to Eloy, Marquez told Ansari that she had been given Tylenol for pain and medication for stomach ulcers, without proper testing or treatment for her underlying condition. 

“How is a human being supposed to have the energy and the will to fight for her immigration case when she is physically and mentally exhausted?” Ansari said at the press conference. “This is happening all over Arizona and across the United States.” 

Ansari also heard firsthand from detainees about their experiences at Eloy. Detainees were reportedly forced to walk laps for hours in the heat, exposed to extreme and inconsistent temperatures due to A/C manipulation, and confined to cells with only plastic mats instead of furniture. 

Other issues at the facility reported by advocacy organizations include the punitive use of solitary confinement and preventable deaths due to medical mistreatment. 

After Ansari sent a letter in June to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting director of ICE Todd Lyons, inquiring about the conditions at Eloy Detention Center, she received a letter saying that “ICE is committed to safe, secure, and humane environments for all of those in its custody and ensures appropriate conditions for confinement.”

“We had one small win earlier this October: After a month of my office demanding directly with ICE, hosting press conferences outside of the U.S. Capitol, that Yari be able to see an oncologist, she was finally given a visit after seven months in ICE detention,” Ansari said. “There should be no need for congressional intervention to make this happen.” 

LGBTQ+ advocates are asking the community not to forget about their friend, one of nearly 60,000 detained individuals in immigration centers nationwide, according to TRAC. 

Despite their fears, her friends and LGBTQ+ advocates wrote her messages of encouragement, support and hope-filled letters.

“My biggest and deepest fear, of course, is losing her — that I won’t be able to achieve what I’m fighting for, the fear of never seeing the Yari I once knew again,” Almaraz said in an interview with CALÓ News. “My hopes are very big. I have a lot of faith and trust in God that we’ll be able to get her out of there so she can be okay.”

As the fight for Márquez’s release continues, Almaraz’s determination remains unshaken — fueled by love, faith, and a community unwilling to look away.

Nicole Macias Garibay is a transborder storyteller and bilingual journalist from the U.S.-Mexico border. Her upbringing crossing the border on the daily fuels her drive to report on migration, Latino culture and the Hispanic community. She wrote for La Voz-The Arizona Republic, interned at Telemundo Arizona and launched VOCES, a bilingual magazine dedicated to telling stories para la comunidad, por la comunidad.