Anna Karewicz, who is known to her friends as Ankah, is a puppeteer, artist, and avid community gardener who lives in Oakland. On Thursday, August 2nd, the group with which she was bicycle touring in Northern California mistakenly rode on the wrong side of the street on a city block in Arcata. The group was stopped by police. The other riders received traffic infraction citations and were allowed to go on their way. Ankah, however, was subjected to questioning as if the officer was an agent of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), as the only identification that she presented was a student id card. The officer asked questions such as, “When did your visa expire? Are you illegal? When did you become illegal? When did your student visa expire?” Ankah was taken into custody with an ICE hold, and although she was bonded out of jail Tuesday the 7th just before 6 PM, she is set to return to court for a pretrial hearing on August 13th in Humboldt and could be deported at any time.
Donations are needed to cover Ankah’s legal expenses. Donate to the Free Anka! Fund. Immigration defense cases cost thousands of dollars. http://www.wepay.com/donations/free-anka?utm_campaign=donations&utm_medium=link&utm_source=facebook&ref_uid=6157532
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