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

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