A routine request turned into a carefully orchestrated trap when a California parole agent persuaded Natalie Marinero, a transgender woman from El Salvador, to step outside her home. The moment she did, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were waiting to arrest her.
"I just need you to sign... and I go, and that's it," the parole agent told Marinero before she stepped outside. But the reality was far different.
Marinero had been living at A New Way of Life, a Los Angeles-based reentry home for formerly incarcerated women, per FOX7. After serving 17 and a half years in prison for a second-degree murder conviction in 2005, she had been rebuilding her life.
"It's hard to find the words to say how the government called here, tricked Natalie, and lured her outside where ICE was waiting for her," Susan Burton, founder of A New Way of Life told local news.
"Natalie got caught in a bad situation where she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She paid her debt to society, and now she was trying to start anew," Burton added.
"Natalie paid her debt, yeah, and she's been making great choices, really working on herself, internally, externally, like the whole package," Susan Hefner, the housing supervisor at the facility, said.
Marinero now faces deportation to El Salvador, a country known for its violence against transgender individuals. Trans women in the country have a life expectancy 41 years below the national average. Police violence, gang extortion and discrimination are among the main threats they face daily, according to Amnesty International.
"I am so saddened by ICE coming and taking Natalie away. It's just horrifying to think of what will happen to her if they return her to El Salvador," Burton said.
Her case, indicative of ongoing unknowns and fears about ICE's strategy.
Attorneys nationwide are urging immigrants and Black Indigenous People of Color communities to know their rights when confronted by ICE, including remaining silent and refusing entry without a warrant. ICE has arrested more than 7,400 people in nine days as of Jan. 31, but details on who they are prioritizing remains unclear.
