A wide circle of friends and advocates raising money for Axel Pecero’s young son call his arrest and detention ‘heartbreaking.’
Part two of a two-part series. Read part one: Axel Pecero’s predawn arrest on a Los Angeles sidewalk caught the attention of ICE. The foster youth advocate, who now faces possible deportation, shared his harrowing experience with The Imprint in a phone call from the Adelanto detention facility.
For decades, California Youth Connection has lobbied for the rights of young adults in foster care. Today, the advocacy group is fighting for one of its own — an undocumented former foster youth swept up in the Trump Administration’s unprecedented crackdown on immigrants.
Axel Pecero has been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County since his August arrest. The 25-year-old father, who was brought to the United States from Mexico as a toddler, is also preparing for the possibility of deportation.
“I came here at the age of 3, and all I’ve ever known is being in America,” Pecero said in a telephone call from the Adelanto facility. “I really do feel like I belong here. I can’t imagine going back to Mexico and not being in my son’s life.”
As part of his advocacy work for the California Youth Connection, Pecero has championed a variety of issues, including support for relative caregivers, addressing substance abuse and juvenile justice reform. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar got to know him during his visits to the state Capitol over the past two years. He also spent a day working in her office.
“I watched Axel grow as a leader, and saw how he brought the lived experiences of the foster care system to legislators,” Menjivar said. “To hear that he was detained in my own district, it’s heartbreaking.”
Supporters have launched a fundraiser to help Pecero pay for an immigration attorney and other expenses related to his detention, such as phone calls. They are also raising money to help support his 4-year-old son.
Nearly 30 letters of support from community members and nonprofit organizations have been submitted to the judge on his behalf — a level of support his attorney Bryce Daly said he has never seen in the eight years he has practiced immigration law.
“I watched Axel grow as a leader, and saw how he brought the lived experiences of the foster care system to legislators. To hear that he was detained in my own district, it’s heartbreaking.”
— California state Sen. Caroline Menjivar
In one letter, fellow California Youth Connection member Jasmine Genevieve Gamez described Pecero as a “kind, encouraging, and trustworthy human being” who loves to make those around him smile and laugh. She also expressed her fears about how Pecero’s young son and the foster youth who have come to know him will be affected if he is deported.
“Losing Axel would be a tremendous, destabilizing loss that risks a repeated cycle of trauma for those who already carry scars from separation in the foster care system,” Gamez wrote.
Caught up in the raids
Pecero’s story is one of thousands that have emerged during immigration sweeps across the nation since the re-election of Donald Trump in January.
Wide-scale raids began in June when masked agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies descended on Los Angeles, home to the country’s largest population of undocumented immigrants. The county became a battleground for the Trump administration’s aggressive approach, with more than 5,000 people detained in raids at Home Depots, outside schools and at work.
The federal action has since spread to other cities, including New York and Chicago.
Some detainees have been targeted by ICE after leaving immigration courts they visited for routine hearings. Attorneys allege that scores of American citizens have also been arbitrarily detained without warrants or probable cause. And in a lawsuit filed against the federal government in July, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union argued that stops and detentions in Southern California have been based on profiling factors such as race, ethnicity and language. A September U.S. Supreme Court decision reversed a lower court’s injunction and temporarily allows federal immigration agents to question people based on factors such as race, job, accent or location.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new laws in response to the federal incursions, including legislation that prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing masks. Another law allows immigrants to make joint custody plans with other caregivers in the event of a deportation. And in Los Angeles County, supervisors recently declared a state of emergency because of the federal raids, paving the way for immigrant families to receive additional support.
Early life in foster care
Pecero was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by his grandmother, he said. He grew up in Los Angeles, and was raised by his aunt in an informal, unlicensed foster home arrangement as a teenager. After turning 18, Pecero was homeless for a while.
In 2021, he was pulled over and cited for driving without a license. He never paid the ticket. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest, but he failed to appear for his court date, according to his attorney.
“Losing Axel would be a tremendous, destabilizing loss that risks a repeated cycle of trauma for those who already carry scars from separation in the foster care system.”
— Jasmine Genevieve Gamez, California Youth Connection
Years later, in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, Pecero was on foot when he lost his way to the Burbank hotel where he was staying. He was in town for a two-day training event on how to help young people struggling with substance abuse and had gone out earlier with friends.
Officers stopped him — in an interaction his friends call an example of racial profiling — and he was arrested for the outstanding warrant.
Hours later, when he was released from police custody, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting for him, his attorney said.
Before his recent troubles, Pecero had been protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. But his current DACA status is unclear, and the program is being targeted for elimination by Trump and fellow Republicans.
Pecero has spent the past two years pursuing a degree from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where he was awarded a scholarship.
In recent years, he also became an increasingly vocal advocate for systems-involved youth. In one 2023 Instagram post, he raps outside the state Capitol during an annual lobbying event for foster youth rights.
“Showing my passion for advocating for foster youth rights by making a little rap,’’ he states in his post.
He testified at the state Capitol in Sacramento last year in support of a policy that would provide more financial support to kinship caregivers like his aunt. And he later lobbied for a state commission to close two Los Angeles County juvenile halls that have become synonymous with violence, abuse and overdoses.
“Be honest with yourselves,” he said at an April 2024 meeting of the Board of State and Community Corrections. “If your child was arrested tomorrow, would you feel comfortable with them spending even one night in these facilities?”
His advocacy work also took him to the U.S. Capitol last year, where he shadowed Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles as part of the National Foster Youth Initiative’s Congressional Leadership Academy.
Pecero’s attorney hopes to prevent deportation through a particular relief program. The “defense to deportation” pathway involves proving “good moral character,” and having a U.S. citizen relative — in this case, Pecero’s young son — who would suffer “extreme hardship” if an applicant was removed from the country.
A judge will consider whether Pecero qualifies for the program at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 15. If the application is denied, he faces removal from the U.S., his lawyer said.
“Axel is just a natural community-builder. He’s giving me hope and courage right now. In spite of being in an incredibly dark place, he hasn’t stopped uplifting the voices of other people.”
— Clarissa Peña, former foster youth
Hardship at Adelanto
During his incarceration at Adelanto, Percero suffered from an infected tooth, but has received little medical care, Daly said. Pecero said he is awaiting an appointment to have it removed.
The ICE facility has long drawn scrutiny for its poor conditions, including a June report from Disability Rights California that noted unsanitary conditions as well as inadequate medical care and poor access to food, water, and mental health services. Detainees have also complained about a lack of clean underwear and difficulty calling loved ones or attorneys.
Last month, 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe died while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being detained at Adelanto for weeks. The Mexico native passed away in a local hospital following complications from an abscess, days after reportedly being seen by medical staff at the facility. And on Oct. 23, 59-year-old Gabriel García Aviles died — eight days after being taken into detention at Adelanto. In a statement, ICE officials attributed his death to alcohol withdrawal.
Clarissa Peña, also a former foster youth, has visited Pecero twice at Adelanto, which is owned and operated by the private prison contractor GEO Group, Inc. and is the largest immigration detention facility in California.
She recalled the sounds of crying family members during the visitation hour and the facility’s strict rules — detainees can only be hugged twice during the time, once upon arriving and again before leaving.
Peña said Pecero was upbeat during her last visit, and told her about his daily routines. Although he’s a basketball fanatic, he became a goalie and captain of a soccer team at Adelanto. And he has used his English skills to help translate documents for Spanish-speaking detainees, including helping them to file grievance forms that are only available in English.
“Axel is just a natural community-builder,” Peña said. “He’s giving me hope and courage right now. In spite of being in an incredibly dark place, he hasn’t stopped uplifting the voices of other people.”
