14-06-2025
Organizers to protest detention of Tampa Bay mother Saturday
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Rosa Patishtan-Gomez, a 30-year-old mother, in Tampa earlier this month. She's now across the state in a Pompano Beach detention facility, according to the agency's detainee locator system.
Patishtan-Gomez is scheduled for a hearing next week, which could decide if she's legally allowed to stay in Tampa Bay.
But her family, advocates and community members are rallying this weekend in support — and to get her home. The Party for Socialism and Liberation Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network have planned a protest for Saturday outside the Pinellas County Jail at 4:30 p.m.
Organizers said in a news release that they are demanding that Patishtan-Gomez, who has a 2-year-old and 10-month-old, be returned home. They are also calling for an end to mass deportations and for the removal of immigration officers from the community.
'All they do is racially profile and hurt the people we love most,' Ruth Beltran, community organizer, said in the news release.
Patishtan-Gomez immigrated to the United States from Mexico five years ago and recently began working in construction to support her family.
She is still breastfeeding her 10-month-old, and protesters say her arrest is in violation of a directive Immigration and Customs Enforcement implemented in 2021.
Officers under most circumstances will not detain, arrest or take into custody people who are pregnant, postpartum or nursing, per the directive.
Organizers also said her bond has been set at $6,500, and officials have not provided her with a translator.
Before officials took Patishtan-Gomez to the Miami area, she was held at the Pinellas County Jail, which, similar to every Florida county as of February, is in a program partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
'We condemn the Pinellas County Sheriff's department, the State of Florida, and I.C.E. for their blatant violation of Rosa's legal and human rights— no person should endure the inhumanity of family separations," Beltran's statement said.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri is also a member of the State Immigration Enforcement Council.
He said last month 200 inmates were sleeping on the floor at the jail because of the influx of immigrant detainees, WFTV9 reported. And this month, the outlet reported state Attorney General James Uthmeier acknowledged the issue and was working to address it.
The Sheriff's Office said in a statement Friday that jail capacity is currently stable.
'As to the demonstration tomorrow, people are free to peacefully demonstrate, and we have no concern with peaceful public expression,' Sergeant Amanda Sinni wrote in an email.
