After nine months detained at Eloy Detention Center, an elderly Cuban asylum seeker with dementia — known among her fellow detainees as "la abuela," the grandmother — is free, pending the outcome of her deportation case.
Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker, gets to talk to her daughter from the back seat of the vehicle that picked her up Thursday night from the Eloy Detention Center after her release. She was held nine months by ICE as her physical and cognitive health deteriorated. Â
Cuban asylum seeker Julia Benitez is pictured last year in Mexico, then 78 years old, two days before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border near Lukeville, Arizona to surrender to border agents and request asylum. Benitez was released Thursday night after nine months in immigration detention in Eloy. Â
Cuban asylum seeker Julia Benitez is pictured last year in Mexico, then 78 years old, two days before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border near Lukeville, Arizona to surrender to border agents and request asylum. Benitez was released Thursday night after nine months in immigration detention in Eloy. Â
Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker, gets to talk to her daughter from the back seat of the vehicle that picked her up Thursday night from the Eloy Detention Center after her release. She was held nine months by ICE as her physical and cognitive health deteriorated. Â
