Loved ones and attorneys held a press conference on Monday to speak out about a South Los Angeles mother and community leader who they say was taken last week by possible federal agents, brought down to the U.S. border at San Ysidro and is now being held in a warehouse until she agrees to self-deport.
Attorney Stephano Medina detailed what he described as a kidnapping of community leader Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, who goes by the name Juli, on Wednesday, June 25.
“In this very parking lot a week ago, uniformed men in unmarked cars kidnapped Juli, and with her courage and her strength — even though we don’t know where Juli is and we don’t know when we will find her — Juli has managed to make two phone calls to the family since she’s been kidnapped,” said Medina. “And so I want to share with you some of the details that Juli has shared with us.”
Medina then explained that, through Juli’s two calls, she described how she was driving down Alameda Street on her way to her janitorial job on Wednesday night when she noticed two trucks following her. At one point, one of the trucks got in front of her, so Juli decided to pull into a parking lot located by a Jack in the Box on 1415 S Alameda St., hoping that the trucks would pass her by.
“That didn’t happen,” said Medina. “They followed her into the parking lot. They got out of the car, they were armed, and they had masks on, and they took her.” Medina, saying that the men did not identify themselves, noted how this incident happened at night, which he said is unusual for ICE operations. According to Medina, Juli believes the men were bounty hunters.
“Juli told us that when she was picked up in this parking lot, she wasn’t taken to any Detention Center. She wasn’t taken to be processed,” said Medina. “Instead, Juli was taken directly from this parking lot to the border at San Ysidro, and there she was presented to an ICE staffer. There, Juli was presented with voluntary self deportation paperwork. She was taken straight from here to the border and pressured to sign self deportation paperwork.”
When Juli refused to sign the paperwork and demanded to see a judge and have legal representation, Medina said she, along with fellow travelers, also insisting on their rights, was then taken to an unmarked warehouse somewhere away from the border. There, she was allegedly only given water, no food, in a warehouse that was holding men and women together, without a law enforcement employee or official present.
“She told us that some people had been in that warehouse for months,” continued Medina. “She said, ‘They are keeping us here until we agree to sign voluntary self deportation paperwork.’ So Juli, an immigrant to this country who’s lived here for over 20 years, when she demanded to see a judge, when she demanded her right to speak to an attorney, she was taken to a warehouse where she wasn’t given any food, and she was being told that she was going to be kept there until she signed this voluntary self deportation paperwork.”
Loved ones say Juli has proved herself to be a strong community leader and mother, raising three children — two with learning differences — all the while volunteering to fight for immigrant rights.
Federal officials have not yet confirmed or commented on Juli’s whereabouts. KTLA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, but has not heard back as of late Monday afternoon.
At this time, Juli’s attorneys and loved ones say they are unaware of where she is, and that her name still does not show up in the detainee locator.
“We are going to find out where Juli is,” said Medina. “I don’t know how many more days or how much longer it’s going to take, but we know that we are going to find her, and when she gets out, Juli is going to share her story.”
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