<div>On October 17th, an El Segundo resident (whom we are referring to as “AJ”) was detained by ICE as he sat in his truck in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Inglewood. AJ is married to Carmen, an American citizen who has lived in El Segundo for over 20 years and whom many in the community know from her 35 years at the Post Office and from her years working at the former Rite Aid in town.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>AJ had a Green Card application in process at the time he was detained. He is currently being held in Calexico, 220 miles away. AJ is diabetic and requires a special diet and prescribed medication, which he has not been given. There are grave concerns for his health.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>We are seeking help for his immediate needs: </strong>funds for mounting legal fees and for the travel costs Carmen faces as she attends hearings and advocates for him.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>El Segundo is at its best when we show up for neighbors in need, and right now this family really needs our help. Please donate what you can, and please share far and wide.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>***If you're able to help outside of donating by providing meals and other support to Carmen please reach out to us via the Contact button further down this page***</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><em>Full details below:</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The ICE raids have now affected a beloved resident of El Segundo, Carmen, and her husband, AJ:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Carmen immigrated from Peru many decades ago and is a U.S. citizen. She has worked hard over the years; currently, she works 12-hour shifts six days a week for the U.S Postal Service, a job she’s held for 35 years. She moved to El Segundo when her son was a small child so that he could receive a good education. She scrimped and saved and sacrificed and was able to purchase a condo here in town. Her son attended El Segundo schools, where he played on the football team, and went on to serve in the Marines for ten years. Now he is a federal contractor in Nevada. Many of us know Carmen because she worked at Rite-Aid for many years, as well as at the Post Office.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Carmen’s husband AJ has lived in the US for over twenty years. Carmen met AJ when she was out dancing with friends: “When my friends went out to dance, we would call him to dance with us.” AJ became Carmen’s dance partner. “And little by little… I didn’t realize I was falling in love with him.”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The couple married in 2017. They immediately applied for AJ to get a Green Card, but the attorney they hired filled in the wrong birth date on the forms. The process became stalled in the nightmarish bureaucratic immigration maze.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In 2023, with the help of a new lawyer, they were able to correct the birthdate on the application, which seemed to resolve the issue. They expected the application to move forward. A backlog of 7.6 million Green Card applications existed in 2023, and the processing of Green Card applications remained stalled.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When Trump was elected, his administration asserted that only undocumented immigrants who were violent criminals would be deported. Carmen’s husband had NO criminal record, a Green Card application in process, AND AJ is married to Carmen, an American citizen.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>On October 17th, 2025, at 9:00 AM, as AJ sat in his truck in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Inglewood, he was surrounded by ICE agents, who forced him from his truck and detained him. They confiscated his phone and would not allow him to call an attorney or his wife. He was taken to the Downtown Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center. Fourteen other day laborers were taken along with AJ.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Carmen learned what happened when the wife of one of the other workers got a message to her. She left work and called her lawyer and the Mexican consulate (neither of whom returned her calls for several days). She was able to retrieve AJ’s truck from the Home Depot parking lot, then rushed to the Metropolitan Detention Center.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Her husband AJ is diabetic and requires medication and a special diet to keep his blood sugar under control. At the Metropolitan Detention Center, an officer confirmed her husband was in custody there, but would not allow her to deliver the medication or food.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When Carmen tried to put money in her husband’s commissary fund, she could not. He was not officially “in the system” for several days. He was given no soap, no water to wash, little food, and was not able to call anyone. AJ was only able to send messages to Carmen through the family of one of the other detainees, who called her.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Over the next few days, AJ was abruptly moved to Santa Ana, then back to Downtown LA, and then to a detention center in Calexico, a 220-mile and four-hour drive from El Segundo. The lawyer who had been representing AJ told Carmen he could not continue to represent AJ after that move.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/97419011_1764875864137877_r." width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A few weeks after AJ was detained, Carmen received an email with a notice for AJ to appear at an immigration hearing regarding his Green Card application. Since he was already detained, of course, he could not appear. Because he did not appear, his application was denied, leaving him vulnerable to deportation.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>AJ had a hearing on November 17th, and Carmen made the trip to Calexico to be in the hearing and see him, but after arriving, she was told by the court clerk that the hearing was virtual. She sat inside the tiny courtroom of the Imperial Immigration Court with the court clerk and watched the proceedings on a large screen. The judge and an interpreter were virtual from another location. AJ was virtual from the Imperial Detention Center. AJ’s lawyer was virtual as well.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>During the hearing, AJ’s lawyer asked for a continuance to prepare the case. The court translator mistranslated some crucial information about the date of the next hearing to AJ (who does not speak English). No one corrected it. Carmen herself raised her hand and asked the court clerk if she could speak.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The judge listened to her explain that the translator had given AJ incorrect information. The judge asked the translator to correct this for AJ. This incident is an example of how crucial it is for Carmen and advocates of AJ to be present and on top of all proceedings.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Carmen was not allowed to visit AJ at the detention center after the hearing because there are no family visit days on Mondays or Tuesdays.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Carmen retained a new lawyer based in San Diego, who said they would appeal the denial. On November 23rd, she drove four hours to Calexico to see AJ. She was initially refused because AJ was “not in the system” (in spite of being told on the phone by detention center staff that she would be able to visit that day). Her insistence prevailed, and she was able to see him. He had finally been given clean clothes, and conditions had improved slightly, but AJ was not being given the medication his doctor had prescribed for his diabetes, in spite of lawyers filing letters from AJ’s doctors with information about his required medication and diet.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Earlier, in September, a man in the same facility where AJ is being held died from an untreated health condition. As of November, 25 detainees have died in ICE detention centers this year.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>AJ struggles to keep his spirits up in detention. There has been pressure put on him by authorities to sign the papers that would force his deportation to Mexico. Thirteen of the men who were detained along with him have been deported. Another man has disappeared and can’t be located by his family. Carmen has requested local clergy to visit AJ in detention, but the Imperial Detention Center is not allowing clergy or other advocacy groups to visit detainees.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The next hearing is set for December 15th.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>IMMEDIATE NEEDS:</strong>
</div>
<div>Legal costs are mounting, funds are needed for legal fees and transportation, so that Carmen can be present at hearings.
</div>

Alexander Stein

Kelsey Chittick

Sarah Dar

Anonymous

Tamara Mendoza

Jette Ellen Brasher

Help Reunite El Segundo Family After ICE Raid

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help Reunite El Segundo Family After ICE Raid

Still $2,062 to go. Help us build momentum.