Brother Lelo will voluntarily depart

“No matter where I end up, I will continue fighting for justice alongside all of you.”

TACOMA, WA (July 15, 2025) — After months of detainment in notoriously inhumane conditions, Alfredo ‘Lelo’ Juarez Zeferino requested and was granted voluntary departure at his Monday morning hearing. Juarez Zeferino, a member of Familias Unidas por la Justicia and an organizer with Community to Community Development, has been held at the privately-run NW Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma since March 25.

By opting for voluntary departure, Brother Lelo will not have a deportation order, which could impact his ability to return to the U.S. in the future. Speaking to supporters at a solidarity vigil outside the NWDC, Larkin VanDerhoef, Juarez Zeferino’s lawyer shared that continued detention in the unlivable conditions in the for-profit prison influenced Brother Lelo’s decision to voluntarily return to Mexico and reunite with family.

“It would have been different were he were not detained, this would have gone differently,” said Vanderhoof. “We feel strongly he should have been released on bond months ago.”

Photo: Community to Community. Illustration: The STAND

Like hundreds of other people held at NWDC, Juarez Zeferino was denied bond. Some of the judges at the Tacoma Immigration Court located inside the privately-run detention center claim they don’t have jurisdiction to grant bond to immigrants who entered the country without legal documentation. They are the only immigration judges in the country choosing to interpret the law in this way resulting in one of the lowest bond rates in the country, according to legal advocacy organization Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which has filed a class action lawsuit challenging the practice. Brother Lelo is a plaintiff in that lawsuit.

Because of monumental case backlogs, there are few if any avenues to appeal bond denial. As a result, people are held at the NWDC for months, even years, as their cases wind their way through the immigration court system. While detained, people are subjected to unlivable conditions; those held at NWDC have reported delayed or spoiled meals, denial of essential medical care, being forced to sleep on the floor, and violations of basic human rights, like the use of segregated custody to retaliate against those who speak up for themselves. One man, Charles Leo Daniel, died in 2024 after being held in solitary confinement for more than 800 days.

Grief and anger have rolled through supporters, knowing Brother Lelo will not be freed and returned physically to his community in Washington. But in sharing Brother Lelo’s decision, Rosalinda Guillen, the founder of Community to Community, stressed the importance of choice.

“There’s one thing that is really important in his decision — that it is his decision,” said Guillen. “He decided for himself, in his own way. He knows this is his dignity, it’s his ability to make that decision. That can still happen even in this prison. We don’t know how long that’s going to be possible for a person.”

Brother Lelo has been organizing for farmworkers for twelve years, since he was thirteen years old. That year, he became the media spokesperson while Familias Unidas por la Justicia was being formed. At fourteen, he was elected to the union’s executive board, negotiating that first union contract. In remarks to the crowd, both Edgar Franks, Political Director of Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Guillen stressed that Zeferino Juarez’s departure from Washington does not mean departure from the fight for workers’ rights.

“The working class is worldwide,” said Guillen. “There are no borders for us, workers…He will be part of the movement here in Washington state, as well as other parts of the country.”

“Lelo is not going away from our hearts and our minds,” she continued.

At the vigil, Guillen read out a letter Brother Lelo had written that morning. In it, he thanked supporters for their continued advocacy throughout his months of detention. He catalogued the many wins he and his fellow organizers were able to achieve — a union contract, rest breaks, overtime for farmworkers, and extreme heat protections. Lelo urged supporters to continue to fight the inhumane system of detention and deportation targeting vulnerable working people.

Despite months of detention, Brother Lelo’s resolve is unwavering: “No matter where I end up, I will continue fighting for justice alongside all of you.”