Seattle Organizer’s Location Unknown as ICE Prepares to Deport Him

Undocumented-led mutual aid group Super Familia has launched a letter-writing campaign demanding Washington elected officials intervene on behalf of community organizer Frank Gabriel Yzaze Yegres, whose whereabouts remain unclear despite ICE records indicating he is still in custody.

Sources close to the situation tell The Burner that Yzaze called his main point of contact in Washington state on Friday to say he was going to be deported to Venezuela that weekend, after several weeks of detention at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. That was the last time anyone has heard from him, according to

organizers.

Because communication from immigration detention is often limited, friends and family on the outside rely on ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System to track loved ones’ status. This system is not updated in real time and is notoriously unreliable during transfers, making missing loved ones a feature of the deportation machine, not a bug. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the system lists Yzaze as “In ICE Custody,” a designation that typically remains in place until a person is physically removed from the United States. However, the database does not disclose his location, instead instructing family members and legal representatives to contact an ICE processing center in El Paso.

When people close to Yzaze called the number provided, they say ICE refused to share information about his location. ICE did not respond to The Burner’s request for comment.

Super Familia is now calling on community members to write to their U.S. Senators and Congressional representatives, urging them to pressure ICE to disclose Yzaze’s location and confirm his status.

“We have no idea where he is, ICE has disappeared him and we need your help demanding that ICE tells us where Frank is,” Super Familia said in a statement on its Action Network page. “ICE needs to know the people of Washington will hold them accountable for hurting our friends.”

You can send a letter here.