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When a Jacksonville coffee shop owner was arrested, facing possible deportation by ICE, neighbors, customers, and a city councillor rallied to her side.
Diana Marcela Mejia, owner of Artessence Coffee Shop in Jacksonville, emigrated legally to the U.S. from Colombia with her family in 2021. She was in the process of obtaining permanent status, but was arrested after experiencing a mental health crisis on August 2. She was subsequently detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As Teresa Stepzinski reports for the Florida Times-Union, Mejia’s family and attorney have been unable to contact her since.
Mejia’s stepdaughter, Sharis Jinete, told the Florida Times-Union that her stepmother had been suffering from panic attacks and hallucinations driven by fear of being abducted by ICE agents. “She had moments where she was feeling persecuted for being an immigrant,” Jinete said. According to a filing by the Department of Homeland Security, DHS had “determined that probable cause exists that the subject [Mejia] is a removable individual.”
Mejia opened Artessence in the Jacksonville neighborhood of Springfield in 2022 with her husband, Jonatan Jinete. The cafe has since developed a loyal customer base—about a hundred customers gathered to support Mejia’s family after hearing news of her detention.
Jacksonville city councillor Jimmy Peluso, who arranged for the show of support, told Stepzinski that what happened to Mejia is “truly despicable. “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.
ICE hasn’t stopped at coffee shops—the agency has also raided coffee farms in Hawaii. In May, we brought news of raids targeting farmworkers and their families on the island of Kona, an area that relies heavily on migrant laborers to pick coffee.
Many have already decided not to make the trip from the mainland for the harvest, which begins this month. “They told us they’re not going to come this year,” farmer Armando Rodriguez told the Honolulu Civil Beat about migrant workers. “I’m predicting we’re going to lose a lot of coffee because there’s a lot of coffee on the trees.”
Read more about the ICE incident from the Florida Times-Union here or via Yahoo! News here.
