To: Markwayne Mullin, United States Secretary of Homeland Security
Tell ICE to stop the deportation of Sister Leticia Ugboaja
On a Sunday morning in late June, Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja was stopped and detained by ICE agents as she walked to church—a block from her home. Sister Ugboaja, who is from Nigeria and is a part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, has worked as a nurse in South Texas for more than a decade.
ICE detained her in a facility that was more than an hour away from her community and then refused to give her the medication she needed. She was released that day, but now has to go to regular check-ins and, despite having a no removal order, is now in deportation proceedings to a third country.
This is yet another abhorrent, egregious action ICE has taken, and cannot be allowed to stand.
Sign the petition to demand the end of deportation proceedings against Sister Ugboaja!
Why is this important?
This is a continuation of ICE’s targeted harassment of the most vulnerable in our communities. If Sister Ugboaja is forced to return to Nigeria, she will likely be tortured, which is why she was granted a protection from removal order in 2019.
Sister Ugboaja isn’t the only one, either. In July, Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo and his wife Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero were detained by ICE agents as they were flying from Texas to North Carolina for a religious retreat. Both are assistant pastors from south Texas who are in the U.S. on religious visas and in the process of obtaining green cards. They claimed that ICE threatened them with prolonged detainment if they didn’t sign voluntary deportation papers.
Public pressure works, even against ICE. We must block the deportation proceedings against Sister Leticia Ugboaja before other religious leaders are put in deportation proceedings.