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California Prisoner Firefighter Transferred to ICE Custody

HeadlineSep 23, 2020

In California, immigration rights advocates continue to denounce Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders to transfer people from state prisons to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This comes as The Guardian reports 41-year-old Kao Saelee, who fought wildfires as an incarcerated firefighter in 2018 and 2019, was transferred to ICE custody last month, the day of his prison release. After 22 years behind bars for a robbery he committed as a teen, Saelee was sent to an immigration prison in Louisiana and is now facing deportation to Laos, the country his family fled when he was just 2 years old.

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