A harrowing story of bounty hunters pouncing on a mother of three children and detaining her illegally was completely undone when the feds investigated and found the mom at a shopping center in Bakersfield.
Left-wing activists had begun to make the claims of Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon into a cause to show the inhumane and cruel treatment of illegal aliens, but that effort has blown up in their faces.
‘We don’t know where she is now. … But we do know that this is not how our country is supposed to function.’
Calderon’s family said that she was kidnapped on June 25 from the streets of Los Angeles by masked men who were armed with guns.
They said they received a call from her saying she had been taken to a warehouse in San Ysidro where many others were being detained. She claimed that she was being forced to sign self-deportation documents. The family said they believed the men were bounty hunters.
Activists and union members championing her cause held a tearful press conference in front of a McDonald’s on June 30 to pressure the Trump administration to reveal where Calderon was being detained.
“She was taken back to an unmarked van along with other travelers who were also insisting on their rights and taken to a warehouse where she was only given water,” claimed an Immigrant Defenders Law Center attorney who represented the family. “A warehouse where she was not given food. A warehouse where men and women were held together. A warehouse without any law enforcement employee, without any official there present.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to the claims in a statement on social media on July 1.
“KTLA fell for a HOAX. This woman was never arrested or ‘kidnapped’ by ICE. If the media would have bothered to ask — ICE does not employ bounty hunters to make arrests,” the statement reads. “This bizarre tale about being picked up by bounty hunters, taken to an unmarked warehouse without access to food, water, or an attorney were clearly fabricated.”
One of the family’s attorneys said they still did not know where Calderon was at the time.
“We don’t know where she is now, if she is in ICE custody or CBP custody, or in a warehouse held by vigilantes,” the attorney said. “But we do know that this is not how our country is supposed to function.”
Two weeks later on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office released a statement confirming that Calderon had been arrested.
The statement said federal officials began investigating the claims made by Calderon, who was identified as a 41-year-old illegal alien from Mexico. They began a search for the woman on July 3 and were able to locate her just two days later.
Calderon was found at a shopping plaza in Bakersfield.
Prosecutors say video surveillance from a Jack in the Box of the alleged kidnapping and phone records proves that Calderon invented the entire story. They said that she intended to produce fabricated photo “evidence” of her “rescue” from detainment and hold a rally on July 6 to garner more sympathy and donations.
The feds cite a GoFundMe donation page set up by Calderon’s daughter that has since been deactivated.
If convicted, the woman faces five years in federal prison for a conspiracy charge and five years in federal prison for a charge of making false statements to an officer.
Calderon is a mother to three and had lived in California for over 20 years. She is a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment activist group.
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