By Philip Haldiman
Mail | X: @PhilipHaldiman

Peoria resident Kelly Yu has been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since last May with no action yet taken, and local activists are calling the treatment inhumane and unconstitutional.

They say a recent development supports their call, as a federal judge Dec. 11 allowed for the release of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania.

The highly publicized case has come about due to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. illegally as a teenager around 2011 to escape gang threats in his home country of El Salvador. In 2019, an immigration judge legally protected him from deportation back to El Salvador. But in March, the Trump administration mistakenly deported him to El Salvador, where he was incarcerated in a notorious maximum-security prison, as he left behind his American citizen wife and their three children. U.S. officials later admitted it was an administrative error.

Yu supporters say the Abrego Garcia case parallels her case and that she should be released from a detention center in Eloy, where she has been held indefinitely for more than six months.

The judge in Pennsylvania cited Zadvydas v. Davis, a Supreme Court case stating that immigration statutes allow for detention but impose an “implicit time limitation,”

Yu supporters say indefinite detention is unconstitutional, and that she should be released immediately.

Brent Peak, an organizer with Northwest Valley Indivisible, said the cases are parallel — the Maryland resident was released after a federal court granted habeas relief under the Zadvydas v. Davis precedent, which directly reinforces the central legal issue in Yu’s case, where she has seen no foreseeable path to removal.

This is exactly the kind of unchecked government power the U.S. Constitution was designed to prevent, Peak said.

“Kelly Yu’s continued detention is not only unlawful — it is inhumane,” Peak said. “The Supreme Court ruled nearly 25 years ago that the government cannot imprison people indefinitely when they cannot be deported. Yet the U.S. government has spent months waiting for the Chinese authorities to complete a passport verification process that is normally brief, and there is no indication they will act any time soon.”

Peoria Independent reached out to Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh, who represents the area where Yu lives, but did not receive an immediate response.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Rep. Greg Stanton, as well as Sen. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Yassamin Ansari, all Democrats, in September urged Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to use their discretion to stay or suspend the removal of Yu.

In August, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes blasted the Trump Administration’s immigration policy at a meeting in Peoria, particularly its handling of Yu.

Mayes vowed to fight for her, and said Yu’s case is tragic and beyond ridiculous.

“I promise you this: I will do what I have done in several other cases that are also tragic and outrageous. I will leverage my relationships with federal law enforcement to try to get her out of Eloy. She does not belong there, she does not deserve to be there,” Mayes said. “Arresting someone who is a part of our community who has children, one child, who employs dozens of people, does not make us safer, it makes us lesser than.”

Yu fled China’s one-child policy at 18 years old, arriving in the United States in 2004 while pregnant and seeking asylum. After 11 years, her asylum request was denied, but by then her daughter was firmly rooted in Arizona. Since then, Yu has raised her daughter here, married a U.S. citizen, and built a life rooted in Arizona. She also established a local restaurant, Kawaii, with locations in Peoria and Phoenix. Yu has no criminal record.

Before being detained, Yu was wearing an ankle monitor and reporting for check-ins with the immigration court.

Yu was detained in May while complying with a routine immigration check-in. Since then, she has garnered a supportive following from those who believe her case’s merits outweigh the requirements of the president’s immigration policy.

Republican leader Lisa Everett has also called for the release of Yu.

“Kelly Yu is not ‘the worst of the worst’ — she is the opposite. She is the kind of person we should be proud to welcome as an American citizen,” Everett said in a previous Peoria Independent report.

Senior News Editor Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on X @philiphaldiman. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@inusua.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Philip Haldiman
Senior News Editor | Peoria

phaldiman@iniusa.org

Meet Philip
Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.

Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.

Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater. 

Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.

Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.