Department of Homeland Security officials said they are doing everything they can to make sure Nicoll Hernandez Polanco is being treated fairly, according to Tucson News Now. Hernandez turned herself in to the entry port in October and requested asylum. Hernandez told ICE that she was fleeing her home country of Mexico because of the violent attacks, harassment and sexual abuse she suffered.
Because of past deportations, Hernandez has been detained for five months while she awaits her April 22 hearing.
"We understand that Ms. Hernando-Polanco is part of a vulnerable population and we've accommodated her requests," said Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a public affairs official for the ICE office in Phoenix, according to Tucson News Now.
Hernandez filed a complaint through ICE, claiming she faces harassment at the facility. Extra cameras in Hernandez's dorm were installed, and, per her request, only female officers are permitted to conduct pat-downs, according to Tucson News Now. ICE has offered to place Hernandez is an individual cell.
"They want to keep me in a small locked room, I am not an animal. I am a human being," Hernandez told Tucson News Now.
"We understand that nobody wants to be in detention, we try to make it as comfortable as possible for everybody," ICE officials told Tucson News Now. "We have offered Ms. Hernandez-Polanco a transfer to Santa Ana, and she declined."
"Nicoll has lawyers in Phoenix, our group Mariposa Sin Fronteras, her network of support is all here in Arizona," Raul Alcaraz Ochoa told Tucson News Now. "For her to be taken to Santa Ana jail would be a disconnect from the support she's been able to get."
When asked by Tucson News Now what Hernandez wanted the Department of Homeland security to do, she replied: "To let me go, I want my freedom. I get very depressed, I don't go out to recess, I have trouble getting in the showers, I have no privacy whatsoever."
