ICE detained the partner of a high California physician. A group exhibits as much as ‘serenade’ him – The Mercury Information

“Today is the 12th day he has been in B-18,” Alrashid stated, referring to the notorious basement facility within the constructing. “He does not have a bed to sleep on. He does not have a toothbrush or toothpaste. There’s no soap. They feed them sporadically and my husband is 6-foot-7 and he needs a certain amount of nutrition and he has not received that for days.”

She stated this isn’t simply an immigration difficulty however a human rights disaster occurring in downtown Los Angeles, a nightmare she shares with many others across the nation.

“My husband has been subjected to 12 days of inhumane treatment in a federal building,” Alrashid stated. “He is not a criminal. He is a kind, peaceful man with an open immigration petition. He should be with his family, not sleeping on a concrete floor without medical care.”

The occasion was half protest and vigil, and in addition a “serenata,” a serenade, stated Alvarado, who assured the gang Othmane and different detainees can hear the Arabic, and later, Spanish-language cumbias and ballads musicians performed from a cell stage.

“In the Latin American culture, the serenade is an act of love and kindness,” Alvarado stated. “Today it is also an act of resistance, to bring music to those in captivity, knowing so much pain families are enduring in this moment. We’re not going to stay quiet, we’re going to raise our voices.”

Alrashid stated she was talking together with her husband through Facetime when he referred to as to inform her ICE officers in 5 automobiles had been following him and that they blocked his automobile on Pasadena Avenue, didn’t present a warrant and didn’t determine themselves.

“I was screaming, ‘Don’t get out of the car,’ but one had a baton and he said they had weapons. My husband is the most peaceful man and he cooperated and they took him,” she stated. “I flew out of our apartment crying to my Mom on the phone, telling her they might arrest me. I was so ready to fight for him.”

The arrest occurred close to Huntington Hospital, the place Alrashid has labored for 21 years and the place she serves as chief of medical workers.

Born and raised in Utah of Egyptian and Iraqi ancestry, she married Othmane in 2024.

“This is my country. I don’t know any other,” Alrashid stated. “But I don’t recognize my country now.”

Gordo, the mayor of Pasadena, stated the town stands with Alrashid, a pacesetter on the hospital he calls a “community gem.”

“You’ve been here for us and now we’re here for you,” he stated. “What’s happening in our community is unrecognizable, unlawful, and most importantly, illegal. It’s wrong. Rami is not a criminal and the great majority of the people who have been impacted have no criminal record. This is not just un-American. It’s unethical.”

Dr. Elisa Alvarado is Othmane’s physician and Alrashid’s buddy. She was one among many white-coated residents and workers from Huntington Hospital on the serenade.

“I’m here in support of Rami and his family, to say this is not right,” she stated. “I’m concerned for Rami as my patient because these conditions are not good for his health.”

Alvarado stated the struggling Alrashid is present process additionally impacts the Pasadena group, as she oversees greater than 1,000 docs and her husband’s illegal detention is taking her focus away from that life-saving work.

“The community is suffering also,” Alvarado stated.

ICE didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Since June 6, armed federal immigration brokers have converged on native cities, with out warning, to arrest immigrants. They’re searching for to satisfy President Donald Trump’s pledge to arrest the “worst of the worst” felony immigrants and mass deport them. Administration officers name the inflow of undocumented immigrants an “invasion,” which federal authorities say justifies the nationwide crackdown.

However advocacy teams say the general public being arrested are neither criminals nor the “worst of the worst.”

Nationwide, there have been 47,238 folks being detained by ICE as of July 7. In response to the company, 13,656 of these detained — 28.9% — had been categorized as criminals.

Chris Newman, authorized director for NDLON, stated resistance is working, and that People ought to proceed to return out to protests and vigils to provoke public opinion.

“In the end, that is the only shield that we have against the constitutional violations this administration’s been engaged in and that have been sanctified by the Supreme Court,” Newman stated. “It’s imperative. We need to have public opinion on the side of what’s moral and bedrock constitutional rights that are being jeopardized. I think the Trump administration is trying to make all of us indifferent to the suffering of people, and this is proof that we are not going to do that.”

Alrashid stated a excessive observe in lately spent combating and ready is when her husband calls from B-18. She makes positive the person who mesmerizes his viewers with music hears it now in his captivity. He serenaded her with a French-Arabic tune at their engagement occasion two years in the past, and she or he laugh-cries as she confesses she doesn’t know its title.

However “I’ll play it for him for as long as they’ll let me.”

Initially Revealed: July 28, 2025 at 4:25 AM PDT