This is Abigail Hernandez. In February of 2018 she was a student at Edison High School in the City Of Rochester. Abigail was enrolled in the NYSSA program, a program designed for children with significant educational and developmental impairments.

On  February 16, 2018,  ten officers from the Rochester Police Department showed up at her house. Someone had alerted them to a threatening Facebook post that appeared on East High School’s Facebook page. The IP address of the Motorola Mobile phone from which this post was traced belonged to Abigail’s family’s address. This was the day after the school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Abigail was removed from her home and has been incarcerated from that day on. From the Monroe County Jail to the Buffalo Immigration Detention Facility in Batavia,New York to an ICE Detention Facility in Louisiana to the Chautauqua County Jail. Back to Batavia and then to the Rensselaer County Detention Facility in Troy,New York where she’s been since December 2020.  

Abi was born in Mexico and brought to the United States as a three year old by her grandmother. She does not speak Spanish, and is not in touch with the two relatives that are presently in Mexico. Abigail’s cognitive functioning has been determined to be a chronological age of seven years old.

At the present time, she is the only female detainee who is still in ICE custody at the facility. It is a facility which has been ravaged by COVID. ( Including: Corrections Officers, Medical Staff and dozens of male prisoners.) 

Abi received her High School Diploma from Edison High School in a ceremony held in the Monroe County Jail. While a student, Abigail participated in numerous community service activities including programs at the American Association Of University Women. For four years, Abi has used her caring and compassionate character to earn the respect and friendship of other detainees, Sheriff’s Deputies and Correctional Officers. Reams of documentation have been submitted by friends,teachers and community members testifying to Abigail’s upstanding character, citizenship and kindness.Her lawyer has presented her case to several f different courts and Immiugration Judges Each time she is denied release on the basis that “ she represents a risk to people or property.”

According to State Court transcripts; (Abi )she received letters of support from the community including administrators and teachers in the school district to which her purported media threat had been directed . Notably, the Prosecutor commented, “We think this (removal of Abi from detention) is in the interest of justice for many reasons and that goes to Abigail as a person and who she is and who she was represented to be, based on the letters that we reviewed from the people that knew her best. It is telling that none of the entities or individuals most directly affected by Hernandez-Arrellanos’s actions on February 15th 2018 consider her to be a danger to the community.In other words, the community to which Hernandez-Arrellano would be released does not share the opinion of the Dept. Of Homeland Security.”

Call our Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senators Charles Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand , NYS Assembly members & local Senators ask that Abigail Hernandez-Arrelano be released from ICE custody immediately and be allowed to live and learn and thrive outside of the barriers of jail and within the loving and caring arms of the community from which she was removed.

Let’s collect 1000s of signatures to #BringAbigailHernandezHome

Abigail Hernandez’s Team