Community members urge ICE to release Pomona father and resident amid heart condition

Pomona, CA - Advocates and allies are asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials for the immediate release of a Pomona resident and day laborer, Ramiro Pacheco. According to his family, Pacheco has a medical condition, which is quickly deteriorating while being held at the Adelanto Detention Center.  

Community members, faith leaders, immigrant and labor rights advocates and allies held a vigil at the Cardenas Market on Holt Ave. in Pomona on Wednesday to call for Pacheco's release, denounce the racial profiling and targeting of immigrant workers in Pomona and to ask for the respect, the dignity and human rights of immigrant communities.

ICE detained Pacheco, a father of two, while he was walking to pick up his medication for his medical condition.

Pacheco daughter, who is a U.S citizen, wrote in a GoFundMe, which she created to support her father’s legal fees, that her father suffered his first heart attack back in 2015 and three more after.

He was ultimately given a pacemaker to help him with his condition. 

She also wrote he has high blood pressure, diabetes and has also recently developed peripheral edema, which causes his legs to swell up to the point of being unable to walk, causing him to have difficulty breathing.

According to a press release by the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, Jax has no criminal record, was suffering from pneumonia at the time of his detention and is a long-time member of the center. 

“Anything that raises his temperature can put him at risk between life and death. He belongs back home in Pomona, not inside the walls of an inhumane detention center like Adelanto,” said Alexis Teodoro, Worker Rights Director for the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center. 

Community members who were at the vigil included the Mayor of Pomona Tim Sandoval, Pacheco's daughter, Pomona Valley Spiritual Leaders of Pomona, Angela Sambrano from Latino Roundtable and members of the Pomona Day Labor Center.

The Pomona Economic Opportunity Center has started a letter campaign to bring Pacheco home to his family.