On the morning of August 5, a friend’s brother was unlawfully detained by ICE in Tukwila, WA. Jorge Araniva is in the U.S. on a work visa (he works remodeling homes) and is mandated to report to an immigration center once a month, where they review pay stubs and other documentation. This morning, he arrived at the facility with his 14-year-old son. While there, ICE detained both Jorge and his son. His son, a U.S. citizen, was eventually released. Jorge, however, is now held in custody, despite being here legally.

This morning, Jorge did exactly what he has been doing each month for the last 40 months (yes, he's been in U.S. since March 2023). He followed the rules for his permit, and is now in ICE custody. Jorge is also diabetic; at this time, we have no idea if he will be able to receive the medication he needs on a daily basis.

Fortunately, there is someone available for his legal services. However, Jorge’s son lived with him and is now living with other family members.

We are raising funds:

We have collectively decided to limit the amount of personally- identifying information in this post as we don’t want to endanger others. We thank you for your help during this complicated, frustrating, and blatantly obvious violation of human rights.

As a personal aside, last month, Jorge helped me pull a drowning child out of a lake. He didn't hesitate to come running when he heard people yelling for help. He is the kind of person we'd all be lucky to have in our community. Let's help him get back to his.