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Despite recent criminal justice reforms, California Governor Gavin Newsom is not maximizing one of the greatest tools he has for ending mass incarceration — the power of clemency. By the end of Governor Jerry Brown's term, an unprecedented 283 people had their sentences commuted. Governor Newsom’s recent pardons, including 21 just last month, are a great first step, but he should use resources to the fullest extent and could do so by placing an intentional focus on freeing criminalized survivors.

In Yuba County Jail in Northern California, Aylaliya “Liyah” Birru, an Ethiopian immigrant survivor of domestic violence, is facing deportation for defending herself against her abusive ex-husband. Governor Gavin Newsom has the power to stop Nirru’s deportation back to Ethiopia by granting her a pardon. Liyah has already served six years in prison and should be free today. Governor Newsom should take action before it’s too late.

Cyntoia Brown, a domestic violence survivor, is finally free after serving 15 years in prison due to a widespread campaign calling on Governor Haslam to commute her sentence. And there are so many more survivors of abuse held captive in jails and prisons across the country.

Like Cyntoia, Marissa Alexander and so many other Black women who dare to defend themselves, Liyah is being punished for protecting herself against the severe violence of a man who said no one would believe her if she ever dared to ask for help. A man who called her a slave and who beat her without mercy. A man who threatened to have her deported. A man who knew white supremacy would work for him.

The legal system has failed Liyah every step of the way. The day she was arrested, the police observed swelling, bruises and blood on Liyah’s body. But when the case was prosecuted, Liyah was not believed or seen as a survivor. Instead, she is sitting in a jail leased by ICE wondering what her future holds, a result of Placer County Deputy District Attorney Shannon Quigley aggressively prosecuting the case and negotiating an unfair plea deal that ultimately put Liyah at risk of deportation.

Liyah faces intersecting oppressions as a result of her being Black, a woman and an immigrant. Black people are overcriminalized in this country and routinely receive harsher sentencing punishments for the same crimes committed by white people. In 2014, according to the Sentencing Project, Black non-Latinx women had an imprisonment rate over twice that of white non-Latinx women. And Black immigrants face deportation for criminal convictions at a rate three times higher than other immigrants, according to a report by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Few people understand these intersections of immigration policy and mass incarceration, and even fewer lawmakers have done anything to stop this insidious symbiotic partnership — a partnership fueling a culture of impunity that allows victims of domestic violence to remain detained without justice.

According to a 2015 survey from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, one in four women reported they had been arrested or threatened with arrest during a partner abuse incident or while reporting a sexual assault incident to the police. Furthermore, multiple studies indicate that between 71% and 95% of incarcerated women have experienced physical violence from an intimate partner. Governors across the country have a duty to use their infinite clemency powers to end it.

Survived and Punished’s OrganizeFor.org petition has over 75,000 signers, and includes more than 60 organizations comprised of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, anti-violence victim advocates, immigrant rights and racial justice organizations. They all support the call to Free Aylaliya “Liyah” Birru.

The Governor has Liyah's application, and only has to review it and finalize the paperwork. There is no reason for delay. Every day Governor Newsom doesn’t take action is putting Liyah at increasing risk. We urge him to be the feminist, pro-immigrant leader he claims to be and free Liyah immediately so she can rejoin her loved ones in her community.

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This op-ed is a collaboration between Arisha Hatch, Managing Director of Campaigns at Color Of Change, and Nana Gyamfi, Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).

Arisha Hatch and Nana Gyamfi

Writing since November 2019 · 1 story contributed