For immediate release
San Francisco, CA -- Pangea Legal Services released the following statement on behalf of Joaquin Sotelo and his family, after a socially-distant oath ceremony took place in Fresno, CA on Saturday:
After a more than five year struggle to defend himself against ICE’s aggressive deportation campaign, U.S. Navy Veteran Joaquin Sotelo was sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen on Saturday, June 27. Joaquin’s story of service and rehabilitation gained attention from the media, and galvanized the support of the immigrant community and allies, who came together to demand that the government recognize his right to remain with his family in the country he calls home. Over his years-long struggle, Joaquin’s court appearances in immigration, superior, and federal courts were filled with community members for whom Joaquin’s story was a prime example of how ICE’s efforts to tear people from our communities on the basis of past mistakes and without any regard for personal growth and rehabilitation is misguided, cruel and counter-productive. Our efforts to keep Joaquin’s family together were felt across the Bay Area, Central Valley, and beyond.
“I cannot thank you all enough for the endless love and support - from San Francisco to Merced and the Central Valley. This journey was tough and challenging. My family and community held me up when I wanted to give up. They reminded me that this fight is bigger than me, it is for everyone who is out in the streets, packing the courtrooms or city hall chambers demanding justice. This campaign has shown us that when we come together to raise up our common humanity, our possibilities are endless,” said Joaquin Sotelo. “ICE’s aggressive campaign to re-detain me caused so much uncertainty. But now, my family and I can finally move on with our lives.”
“To think that only six months ago, the Trump Administration was fighting tooth and nail to re-incarcerate Joaquin in immigration detention, and now their hand was forced to recognize him as a U.S. citizen. It demonstrates the billions of dollars our government wastes annually to prop up the ICE detention and deportation machine,” said Etan Newman, Joaquin’s immigration attorney at Pangea. “Throughout Joaquin’s fight, the community has repeatedly showed up to remind the judges and elected officials that criminalization and deportation of people of color is not the answer. As Joaquin has shown, when people get the mental health support they need to recover from trauma and take full responsibility for their mistakes, they can become positive examples in their community. It’s time our government focused its resources on supporting rehabilitation for our community members rather than incarcerating and banishing them.”
Joaquin uplifts national calls to defund police, ICE, and prisons and reinvest in community mental health services and job training, especially in the Central Valley. Due to social distancing guidelines and family privacy, at this time Joaquin will not provide additional comments aside from this statement.
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