Woman who assisted in federal abuse investigation, arrested at Atlanta airport and deported days later

On Thursday, March 12th, Celia was at Atlanta’s Hartfield Jackson airport. She was feeling proud; she’d spent the previous day attending her stepson’s military graduation ceremony. She was now heading home, and about to board her flight back to San Diego.

Then, she said, her name was called to come to the front desk. 

As she made her way to the gate agents she “turned around and there were like 30 men coming my way.” The men, said Celia, were ICE officers, there to arrest her, with a “deportation notice that they claim to have.”

Celia, who we’re only identifying by first name, was sent to Stewart Detention Center that night. About a week later, Celia spoke with her attorney, Susan Beatty, and told her she wanted to go public with her story. Susan shared a recording of part of that conversation with 285 South. 

At the airport, Celia said in the recording, she had tried to explain to the agents that there must have been a mistake.

“I told them, look, I’m waiting for a U visa that I have pending and there’s a big backstory on that U visa, so if you guys are going to take me in, you should probably contact your supervisor,” Celia said. “So, they contacted the supervisor and the supervisor told them, it doesn’t matter what backstory, it doesn’t matter what she’s saying, she has a final deportation, and she can wait for her pending visa in Mexico.”

Here’s that backstory: Celia was among a number of incarcerated women who came forward with claims of sexual abuse at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin in California.

Multiple Dubin employees were charged. Many pled guilty, and others were convicted, including the former warden.

Celia aided  authorities in their case against  a man she said abused her: a former officer of the facility. The man, who denies the charges, has been tried twice. Both trials resulted in mistrials after juries failed to reach verdicts.

FCI Dublin is now closed.

After she made her allegations of abuse at the Dublin facility, a judge granted Celia compassionate early release from prison. She was released in 2023, and ICE didn’t pursue an immigration detainer and allowed her to go home, Susan explained. Celia then applied for a U-visa, a temporary status for victims of some crimes “who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.” The application was certified by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.  

Celia, a single mom of five children, ranging in age from 10 to 26 years old, was born in Mexico, and was brought to the United States when she was an infant. She was a long-time lawful permanent resident, said Susan, but she lost her legal permanent status after she received a drug conviction. “She is a survivor of many kinds of abuse, and as a result of abuse, ended up with a conviction that landed her in federal prison,” said Susan.

On the phone with Susan from the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, Celia described “cramped” conditions at the facility. “There’s not enough blankets for people. It’s super cold,” Celia said in the recording. “When I got here, there wasn’t even a bed for me. I had to sleep on something they call a boat. It’s just like this plastic, huge tub that they put on the floor.” 

Susan had filed a request for a stay of removal, officially asking ICE in Atlanta not to deport Celia, she said. When 285 South spoke to her on Friday, she hadn’t received a response.  “We haven’t been able to get in touch with her or anyone at Atlanta or Stewart, ICE all day,” Susan said on Friday. 

“My understanding is that the US Attorney’s Office has been, you know, in touch with the Department of Homeland Security every day about this case for the last week, and is also advocating for her.”

That advocacy appears to have been ineffective. On Saturday, Susan heard news of Celia. She had been deported, and was in Matamoros, a city in northeastern Mexico.  

In the audio recording, Celia said she had known that flying to Atlanta would be risky, but she couldn’t imagine her stepson at his ceremony, “stand[ing] there by himself, you know, graduating from the army…He really changed his life around so I wanted to show him support,” she said. “I was able to attend the ceremony, you know, proud of him, and spend the day with him.”

Speaking to her attorney on the phone from Stewart, the last call she made to her on U.S. soil, Celia said she thought that if only the ICE agents had taken the time to check her back story, the situation might have been avoided. “But they just didn’t care,” she said. “I felt like all my pieces were together, and now they’re all apart again.”