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Customers rally to support a popular Jacksonville coffee shop owner in ICE custody
Outraged customers, neighbors and a city official are rallying in support of a popular Jacksonville coffee shop owner now in ICE custody and facing potential deportation after being arrested on two misdemeanor charges amid a mental health crisis.
Diana Marcela Mejia, along with her husband, Jonatan Jinete, own Artessence coffee shop, at 1505 N. Main St. in close-knit historic Springfield near downtown Jacksonville.
The family-operated coffeehouse is known for its Colombian coffee, fresh pastries and sandwiches, hospitality and as a neighborhood gathering place for small community-oriented events.
Mejia, a 40-year-old native of Colombia, is hospitalized in an unclear condition after being detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following her arrest while suffering a mental health crisis, worried family members told the Times-Union exclusively on Aug. 10.
She is legally in the United States awaiting permanent status after the family emigrated to the U.S. in December 2021 seeking political asylum, said her stepdaughter, Sharis Jinete, and daughter, Gabriela Mejia.
They said no one in their family has been able to speak to Meija, or find out details about her mental state or physical condition since she's been in ICE custody — currently at a Fort Lauderdale hospital.
"We have called every day to check and see if she is still there. The only thing they tell us is 'she's ok and she's eating.' No one is allowed to give any details or details of her diagnosis because she is in ICE custody," Sharis Jinete said.
An attorney who's also a family friend represents Mejia, but also has been unable to speak to her, they said.
ICE officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment about Mejia's case.
Family concern ends with St. Johns County arrest
Mejia is identified as Diana Marcela Mejia-Pedraza on federal immigration detainer documents as well as St. Johns County Sheriff's Office and court records.
Her mental state had been deteriorating for about two weeks before the Aug. 2 incident outside a Dollar General store in St. Augustine that led to ICE detaining her, Sharis Jinete and Gabriela Mejia told the Times-Union.
They said Mejia had been having panic attacks and hallucinations because she was so fearful about ICE grabbing immigrants off the streets, then taking them to detention centers before deporting them.
"She had moments where she was feeling persecuted for being an immigrant. She was having a panic attack at the Dollar General and we called the police because we felt they were going to help us," said Sharis Jinete, noting they believe Mejia might be suffering from a possible psychotic break.
Because Mejia was mentally unstable, they believed police would take her to a mental health facility for evaluation and help, she said.
"Because as a family, we felt defeated. We didn't know what else to do, and she was in a public space, and we were scared about what might happen," Sharis Jinete said of Mejia's arrest in St. Johns County.
St. Johns County sheriff's deputies arrested Mejia following a brief scuffle about 6 p.m. Aug. 2 in the store's parking lot.
She was arrested on misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer without violence and trespassing in a structure or conveyance, according to a Sheriff's Office arrest report and county court records.
There is no mention in the arrest report of the sisters wanting Mejia taken to a mental health facility under the state's Baker Act.
Deputy Mallory Moyers, the arresting officer, said when she arrived, Mejia was "causing a disturbance and randomly yelling at customers to leave the store in both English and Spanish."
Moyers said in the report that she ordered Mejia, who was in the store parking lot, to leave with her two daughters who had arrived by that time. In addition, Moyers said that she warned Mejia several times that she was trespassing and would be arrested unless she left the store. But Mejia refused to leave, according to the arrest report.
A struggle ensued when deputies tried to take Mejia into custody. Mejia is accused of resisting arrest by pulling her arms away and refusing to comply with "lawful" commands from a Sheriff's Office corporal.
"At which point Corporal Miller utilized a takedown maneuver, forcefully took her [Majia] to the ground, and secured her after a brief struggle," Moyers said in the arrest report.
The sisters confirmed the scuffle and that Mejia was forced to the ground and arrested. But they said they hadn't seen the arrest report or related court documents, including the ICE detainer order.
Mejia was booked into the St. Johns County jail pending court proceedings, according to the Sheriff's Office report.
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Mejia taken into federal custody on immigration detainer
On Aug. 3, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filed an Immigration Detainer against Mejia, saying the agency had "determined that probable cause exists that the subject [Mejia] is a removeable individual."
The DHS determination cited in the detainer document was in the form of a checked box for the following statement:
"Biometric confirmation of the individual's identity and a records check of federal databases that affirmatively indicate, by themselves or in addition to other reliable information, that the individual either lacks immigration status or notwithstanding such status is removable under U.S. immigration law; and/or the reason."
The detainer further states that any immigration officer was authorized to arrest Mejia on warrants for "immigration violations."
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Where is Diana Marcela Mejia now?
The arrest warrant was served Aug. 3 on Mejia at the St. Johns County jail, according to the DHS detainer document.
ICE's online detainee locator on Aug. 9 confirmed she is in custody, but doesn't say where. The sisters said that before being hospitalized, Mejia was expected to be taken to an ICE facility in Miami.
Anger over ICE detention prompts community outpouring of support
Longtime customers, neighbors and coffee shop newcomers are seething about Mejia's detention, which some denounced as cruel as well as unjustified and unconstitutional.
An estimated 100 people showed up at the coffee shop early Saturday, Aug. 9, in response to social media posts calling for a show of support for Mejia and her family, several participants told the Times-Union.
Many stood patiently in a line stretching out the Artessence front door and down the block for up to an hour just to buy a cup of its freshly brewed coffee or a breakfast pastry. And most left a generous tip — at least one as high as $50 — to help the family offset potential expenses resulting from Mejia's detention.
They emphasized that Mejia and her family are caring, hard-working people who go out of their way to make people feel welcome as well as help strangers, including the homeless.
Allison Galloway-Gonzalez, a patron of Artessence since it opened, became friends with the family. She was shocked by what happened to Mejia.
"It's frightening, alarming, surprising, frustrating, infuriating and scary. It's all of those things," Galloway-Gonzalez told the Times-Union.
She said Mejia always has a smile, if not a hug, for everyone who comes in the coffee shop, which hosts community-oriented events such as art classes and creative writing workshops as well as Spanish and English language learning nights.
"Springfield is a tight community … We've become a family over here, so everyone was quick to action to show support. We all feel so close to her," Galloway-Gonzalez said.
Jacksonville City Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose district includes Springfield, in an Aug. 9 Facebook post called on people to come to Artessence to show support for Mejia and her family.
"We should all be at ArtEssence this morning, supporting Diana and Johnathan [sic], but also we must show support to the immigrant and Hispanic communities that are clearly being targeted by society in a way that is just plain scary," Peluso posted.
Peluso later told the Times-Union that "it's truly despicable" what's happening to Mejia.
"These are individuals that are doing the right things in our country and our city, and it shouldn't matter where they come from or what their status is," Peluso said of Mejia and her family. "These are individuals who are only trying to be good members of society and wanting to live the American dream."
Peluso also said he wants people to realize that "good taxpaying normal citizens who have been playing by the rules their whole life, that they're at risk of being picked up."
Family devastated, fear future ICE action
Concern for her mental health and safety, as well as uncertainty about Mejia's future, is taking a toll on the family, the sisters said.
"This has devastated our family … After my mom [Mejia] was taken by ICE, my dad and I were really, really afraid to stay in our own house. Out of fear, we left the house and stayed somewhere else," Gabriela Mejia said.
Although they legally are in the country, "we're very afraid to see that even citizens have been detained by ICE and targeted," she said.
Sharis Jinete said her dad, who's focusing on running the coffee shop, is the hardest hit by what has happened.
"He's never done anything wrong. … But he's afraid and very, very sad because of all of this," she said.
(This story was updated to correct a typo.)
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville coffee shop owner in ICE custody. What we know
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