TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Along the corner of Coronodolet and Wilmot on Monday near St. Joseph’s Hospital, a group of protesters called for stopping deportations.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation and Coalición de Derechos Humanos joined together, getting on a loudspeaker to chant and call on the federal government to release Francisco, an undocumented migrant who was detained by border patrol at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
One of the members of PSL, Tanya Nunez, organized the protest, chanting over a loudspeaker and making a speech about why she feels like deportations should stop.
“It causes a lot of stress. It causes a lot of fear in our communities,” Nunez said.
A representative for Customs and Border Protection from Arizona said Francisco was detained because he was already deported back in 2011. He said they were already looking for Francisco and finding him had nothing to do with the location of the hospital. They said they would have arrested him at any other location.
However, Nunez said the hospital was an inappropriate place for his detainment to happen.
“So many people avoid going to the hospital for care that they need because of the simple reason that they might get kidnapped and deported,” Nunez said.
CBP said Francisco is being prosecuted for being a migrant that came back illegally. The representative said he was arrested on April 29 and is in U.S. Marshal's custody.
“We’re here in defense of them, to be their voice in this time of crisis, in this time of need, and to show them that they’re not alone,” Nunez said.
CBP said in March 2025 they arrested more than 7,000 migrants who crossed illegally along the southwest border. They said this is a 95% decrease from March of 2024 when they arrested more than 137,000.
“It’s sending the message that they’re not welcome here just by everything they do for this country,” an anonymous protester said.
PSL’s members said no matter who is president, Democrat or Republican, deportations should stop as a whole.
“This is an indictment of the system itself, which is in itself racist and against immigrants,” Nunez said while the anonymous protester said, “Injustice is still going to happen and it’s a whole system issue really.”
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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