For Immediate Release
September 1, 2025
ELOY, AZ — On Sunday, August 31, Republican leader Lisa Everett and progressive activist Brent Peak visited detained Peoria resident Kelly Yu at the Eloy Detention Center. Yu has now been held for 96 days and faces imminent deportation.
Although Yu was approved for visitors, detention officials refused entry to a journalist after learning she intended to report on the meeting. Advocates say this denial raises serious concerns about transparency and free speech, preventing independent reporting from inside the facility.
Yu’s story began when she fled China’s one-child policy at just 18 years old, arriving in the United States in 2004 while pregnant and seeking asylum. After 11 years, her asylum request was denied, but by then her daughter was firmly rooted in Arizona. Since then, Yu has raised her daughter here, married a US citizen, and built a life rooted in Arizona. She also established a beloved restaurant business with locations in Peoria and Phoenix.
Inside the visit, Yu described how she supports others in custody. She has provided translation for Chinese immigrants with limited English and asked that Chinese women be moved to her pod so she can assist them.
Beyond the facility, Yu’s support continues. She owns a successful restaurant employing 30 people, sponsors her local high school baseball team, and has allowed police and firefighters to hold fundraisers at her business. Her employees are still receiving paychecks and taxes are being paid even while she is detained. Meanwhile, Yu’s U.S. citizen husband has helped other detainees’ families navigate commissary and messaging systems, including setting up video calls to keep loved ones connected.
Yu became emotional when speaking about her U.S. citizen daughter and husband, and about her extended family now settled in the United States. Her grandmother, two aunts, and her sister are all U.S. citizens; her sister is married and raising children here. Deporting Kelly would tear her from a family firmly rooted in the country. If deported, she would be sent back to the very place she fled as a teenager, barred from reentering the U.S. for ten years, leaving with little more than a backpack of clothes.
“Kelly’s deportation is imminent, and it would be a grave mistake. She has spent the last 20 years building community here. The government must act now to keep Kelly with her family and neighbors. The fact that both Lisa and I, who often stand on opposite sides of political battles, are united in this should tell you how urgent this is,” said Brent Peak.
“Kelly Yu is not ‘the worst of the worst’—she is the opposite. She is the kind of person we should be proud to welcome as an American citizen,” said Lisa Everett.
Supporters emphasize that Yu is a neighbor and a community builder, not a threat — the kind of immigrant we want in our country. Yu also shared her fear that when deportation comes, it will likely happen at night without any notice to her attorney or family — and she believes she has at most a week left before that happens. This highlights both the lack of transparency and the trauma surrounding these proceedings.
Call to Action
Community members are urged to contact their U.S. senators, their congressional representative, and the White House to demand Yu’s release and an end to her deportation proceedings. The White House comment form is available at whitehouse.gov/contact.
Supporters also encourage writing letters to the editor, especially to local outlets, to raise public awareness about Yu’s case.