A group of Democratic lawmakers from Arizona are asking the Trump administration to use its discretion to release a Phoenix-area resident and business owner from ICE detention.
Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego and Reps. Yassamin Ansari and Greg Stanton wrote administration officials this month asking for Kelly Yu’s deportation order to be stopped.
The longtime Phoenix-area resident was detained by ICE earlier this year, despite having no criminal record. Yu and her family have said she came to the U.S. in 2004 as a pregnant teenager fleeing China’s one-child policy.
Her initial asylum application was denied and she has been attending regular check-ins with ICE for years while she appealed the case.
The lawmakers say Yu’s child and husband are both U.S. citizens, and she employs dozens of American workers at her Peoria restaurant.
“Given the compelling nature of Kelly’s case, we respectfully urge the administration to exercise its discretion to stay or otherwise suspend her removal, release her back on supervision and reconsider reopening the removal case,” the letter says. “The administration has stated it is focused on keeping Americans safe from ‘the worst of the worst’ in its immigration enforcement efforts. We agree on the administration focusing on removing dangerous criminals and focusing resources on those cases. But that is not what is happening in this case.”
Government data analyzed by the research group TRAC shows some 70% of all ICE detainees have no criminal record.
ICE did not respond to questions about the lawmakers' request or Yu's case.
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