1,000 signatures reached
To: Governor Kathy Hochul
Pardon Assia Serrano and End Her Family Separation
Please take action by demanding that Governor Hochul use her discretionary power as Governor to grant Assia's pardon application and end ICE transfers in NY.
Why is this important?
Assia Serrano is a Panamanian immigrant survivor of manipulation and abuse. After spending 15 years incarcerated for actions she took as a young person under the coercive influence of her abuser — her then-partner, a man 20 years older than her — Assia’s sentence was shortened under the Domestic Violence Survivors’ Justice Act. But instead of being released to reunite with her family in the U.S. (including her two children), New York State handed her directly over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE then moved quickly to deport Assia before she had a fair hearing on her right to remain in the United States. Now, she has almost no pathway back to the US to reunite with her family without a full and unconditional pardon. But if the Governor pardons Assia, she has numerous pathways to come back and secure permanent status here with her family and loved ones.
Assia belongs at home with her community and loved ones, not in Panama where she hasn’t been since she was 15. ICE is intent on making Assia’s already prolonged family separation permanent and destroying Assia’s dreams for her family and future. Indeed, while Assia was incarcerated, she has worked as: a translator; a caregiver in the Children’s Center caring for people during pregnancy (an issue she is especially passionate about because she was pregnant when she was arrested), as well as for their children; and as a teacher in classes focused on prenatal care and sex. She remains actively involved in her own children’s life, despite her abusive ex-partner’s attempt to withhold access to their children, and despite the fact that she has now been deported.
You can read more about Assia and other detained immigrant domestic violence survivors here: https://prismreports.org/2021/07/16/immigrant-domestic-violence-survivors-are-re-victimized-by-the-state/ You can also read more about how ex-Governor Cuomo's gender based violence includes his failure to free imprisoned survivors, a legacy that Governor Hochul now has the chance to undo: https://truthout.org/articles/cuomos-gender-based-violence-includes-his-failure-to-free-imprisoned-survivors/
Please take action by demanding that Governor Hochul use her discretionary power as Governor to grant Assia's pardon application and end ICE transfers in NY.
ICE then moved quickly to deport Assia before she had a fair hearing on her right to remain in the United States. Now, she has almost no pathway back to the US to reunite with her family without a full and unconditional pardon. But if the Governor pardons Assia, she has numerous pathways to come back and secure permanent status here with her family and loved ones.
Assia belongs at home with her community and loved ones, not in Panama where she hasn’t been since she was 15. ICE is intent on making Assia’s already prolonged family separation permanent and destroying Assia’s dreams for her family and future. Indeed, while Assia was incarcerated, she has worked as: a translator; a caregiver in the Children’s Center caring for people during pregnancy (an issue she is especially passionate about because she was pregnant when she was arrested), as well as for their children; and as a teacher in classes focused on prenatal care and sex. She remains actively involved in her own children’s life, despite her abusive ex-partner’s attempt to withhold access to their children, and despite the fact that she has now been deported.
You can read more about Assia and other detained immigrant domestic violence survivors here: https://prismreports.org/2021/07/16/immigrant-domestic-violence-survivors-are-re-victimized-by-the-state/ You can also read more about how ex-Governor Cuomo's gender based violence includes his failure to free imprisoned survivors, a legacy that Governor Hochul now has the chance to undo: https://truthout.org/articles/cuomos-gender-based-violence-includes-his-failure-to-free-imprisoned-survivors/
Please take action by demanding that Governor Hochul use her discretionary power as Governor to grant Assia's pardon application and end ICE transfers in NY.