Name: Coronavirus: Gay SF man detained multiple times by ICE ordered to be released amid outbreak
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Coronavirus: Gay SF man detained multiple times by ICE ordered to be released amid outbreak

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA gay man who returned to the U.S. earlier this year after being deported to Chad — only to be detained again by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as soon as he arrived back in California — will soon be released amid COVID-19 concerns, his legal team told The Chronicle.Oumar Yaide, a San Francisco resident, was ordered Thursday to be released from the Yuba County Jail in Marysville on $10,000 bond, said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, co-director at Pangea Legal Services, a San Francisco nonprofit representing Yaide.Yaide was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which puts him at high risk of developing a severe case of the coronavirus. His in the Bay Area, where he has lived for 10 years, and local residents and Bay Area politicians have called for his release.“I’m still digesting it,” Yaide told The Chronicle minutes after learning of his release. “I’m feeling overwhelmed. I feel like I’m lucky, because without all the support, I don’t think I would’ve made it.”ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Coronavirus CoverageYaide is among hundreds of immigrants ICE has released across the country in recent weeks amid pressure from advocates and politicians who fear the crowded conditions in detention facilities will cause the virus to spread quickly. Many detainees, including more than 100 in California detention facilities, are participating in hunger strikes as a way to voice their concerns.“This comes after pressure across the state from advocates and attorneys and people inside,” Carmona-Cruz said. “This is the most cornered we’ve seen ICE under this administration, amid a disease that affects everyone.”ICE said it has released nearly 700 immigrants who have health complications that make them vulnerable to COVID-19, according to multiple reports.The ACLU Foundation of Northern California said in a statement Wednesday that two Bay Area immigrants with pre-existing conditions — Olvin Torres Murillo, of Honduras, and Mauricio Quinteros Lopez, of El Salvador — were ordered released this week. Both suffer from hypertension, ACLU officials said.Torres Murillo, of Richmond, was held in Yuba County Jail for more than 18 months, while Quinteros Lopez, a Hayward resident, was being held in Mesa Verde (Riverside County).“Public health experts have warned that failing to release those particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection because of their age or medical conditions endangers the lives of everyone in the detention facility, including staff, as well as the broader community,” said William Freeman, senior counsel at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California.Carmona-Cruz said advocates and friends of Yaide, who is well-known among his neighbors in San Francisco’s Mission District, plan to raise the $10,000 bond. They had raised nearly $4,000 since Thursday afternoon.“Oumar has been fighting his case for a very long time and this is the peak of the struggle,” Carmona-Cruz said.“We still have more to go. Obviously, his , but the fact that he can shelter in place with his chosen family and the fact that he can be in his community, which has advocated so much for him in the last couple of months, is something that will really fill him up with so much joy and love.”Yaide immigrated to the U.S. in 2009 and petitioned for asylum as a member of the Gorane ethnic group, saying he was at risk of persecution in his home country because his family expressed anti government views.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.A judge denied his petition for asylum in September 2014, and multiple appeals filed by Yaide, most recently in December 2018, were denied.Yaide was deported in November 2019, three months after agents detained him in his home.At the time, his attorney, Sean Lai McMahon, was awaiting a decision on a motion to reopen Yaide’s case. He had requested the court allow him to present a new basis for asylum — Yaide had not come out as gay when he originally petitioned for asylum in 2009. Returning to Chad would put him in grave danger, McMahon argued.Chad criminalized homosexuality in 2016.A federal judge ordered in December, ruling that Yaide had a legal right to await a final decision on his case before potentially being deported.It took ICE three months to bring him back to the U.S. Immigration agents arrested Yaide when he landed in California on March 1. He was transferred to the Yuba jail, where he remained for more than one month.Yaide plans to return to his apartment in the Mission District, which friends maintained during his time in detention, Carmona-Cruz said.Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateA gay man who returned to the U.S. earlier this year after being deported to Chad — only to be detained again by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as soon as he arrived back in California — will soon be released amid COVID-19 concerns, his legal team told The Chronicle.Oumar Yaide, a San Francisco resident, was ordered Thursday to be released from the Yuba County Jail in Marysville on $10,000 bond, said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, co-director at Pangea Legal Services, a San Francisco nonprofit representing Yaide.Yaide was recently...

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Coronavirus: Gay SF man detained multiple times by ICE ordered to be released amid outbreak

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