Immigrant Who Had Prosthetic Leg Mocked by Trump Officials to Be Freed After ‘Inhumane’ Detention
Photo courtesy of United We Dream
Newsweek reported that a 20-year-old disabled immigrant detained for more than a month without being charged was to be freed Friday, but he has been stripped of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.
After being detained by Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agents on October 11 as part of a human smuggling investigation, Felipe Abonza-Lopez of San Marcos, Texas, was granted a $7,500 bond and will be released sometime Friday, a legal assistant for Abonza-Lopez’s attorney told Newsweek Friday.
Abonza-Lopez has lost his DACA status, which had been set to expire in 2019. It was revoked October 12, Abonza-Lopez’s detention at South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas, spurred a #FreeFelipe social media campaign demanding his release.
It has been widely reported that Felipe Abonza-López wrote a letter about his treatment in detention and that personnel at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas denied him medical attention and made crude jokes about his prosthetic leg. “I went to the clinic, I believe it was October 22, 2017,” the letter alleges. “I had sharp pain in my leg. I have screws in my leg. The men who were at the clinic did not know I spoke English. I graduated [high school in 2016]. I have DACA status. The medical guy said in English, ‘This is the prosthetic guy, he doesn’t need any medicine.’ The guard that escorted me to the clinic started laughing and making fun of me, ‘You can put a broomstick in his leg and he can use [it to] sweep.’”
KJ