Walter deserves justice. Share his story.
Please join the effort to Free Walter Cruz-Zavala. Here are a few actions you can join to help:
Share Walter’s story on social media and in your communities (click here for hashtags and downloadable visuals)
Make calls to DHS demanding that Walter be freed (click here for call script and numbers to call)
Send emails to ICE directors demanding that Walter be freed (click here for sample emails and contact emails)
Remember “The Need for Prosecutorial Accountability” video from 2018? We teamed up again with immigration defense attorney Raha Jorjani to share the story of her client, Walter Cruz-Zavala. Raha has been fighting for Walter’s release from ICE for the past 3.5 years. They’ve won his case twice, but Walter still remains detained. This story demonstrates the gross injustice and inhumanity of the American legal system, but Walter keeps fighting for redemption.
Walter’s story is beginning to gain traction. KPFA ran an interview with Raha, Walter, and Cat Brooks and KTVU wrote this beautiful article. Award-winning filmmaker, poet, and professor Shabnam Piryaei is featuring Walter in an upcoming documentary film. Raha joined an episode of the queer Latinx podcast, Anzaldúing It. Artist and scholar Angélica Becerra created a beautiful portrait, labelled “Free Walter.”
Read the story below. Listen to the interviews. Admire the portrait. Watch the documentary. And above all, share Walter’s story.
Walter Cruz-Zavala won his immigration case twice. But ICE refuses to release him.
Originally from El Salvador, he fled to the United States at 14-years-old. As a teenager, he was briefly recruited by MS-13.
An older gang member talked young Walter into getting a huge MS-13 tattoo. This older man turned out to be an informant working for the U.S. Government, and federal prosecutors used the tattoo as evidence.
Walter took his case to trial and was acquitted of all charges. But during those 3 years, he was subject to a type of solitary confinement that was banned in CA. We should have known better than to subject an 18-year-old to solitary for 3 years. The United Nations calls it inhuman treatment after just two weeks.
After his release, Walter began to drink. He ended up with several convictions, all related to substance abuse. Eventually, he was picked up by ICE.
ICE detained Walter in order to deport him, but the immigration judge granted him relief on the grounds that he’d be tortured if deported to El Salvador. DHS appealed that decision so Walter remained in custody.
The appeals court sent the case back to another immigration judge, who granted it again for the same reasons as the first judge. DHS appealed again, and as a result, Walter stayed in custody.
For over 3 years now, Walter Cruz-Zavala has been detained in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. A few months ago, the appeals court sent the case back again, ordering a complete “do-over” of the immigration judge’s decision.
If Walter returns to El Salvador, he will likely be tortured. But staying in detention is life-threatening, too—like many detainees, Walter contracted COVID-19 this spring. The “do-over” means Walter has to spend years appealing a new decision all over again. He has asked to be released while his case makes its way up through the Courts. He has been accepted into a 6-month residential alcohol rehab facility where he would get the recovery support and counseling he needs to address his past trauma. He’s even offered to wear an ankle bracelet. But ICE refuses to free him.
Raha Jorjani has been fighting for Walter’s release for the past 3.5 years. She has never seen a decision like this. “We’re talking about someone’s life. This isn’t a game.”
Walter has made mistakes and owned up to them. The American government needs to own up, too. This is a story of severe government misconduct. Tell Walter’s story. Listen to the KPFA interview with between Cat Brooks, Walter Cruz-Zavala, and Raha Jorjani.