Keep Guillermo Free Campaign Statement of Support

Supporters of Guillermo gather on July 15 outside the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco

We Support Guillermo, His Freedom & His Wellbeing

July 31, 2025

We are friends, family members, colleagues, faith leaders, advocates and supporters of Guillermo Medina Reyes, a beloved Bay Area tattoo artist, immigrant rights advocate and community organizer who has been rebuilding his life after incarceration and detention. 

Many of us are immigrants, people of color, activists, and have loved ones who are face-to-face with heightened attacks on marginalized communities, high-profile raids by militarized immigration agents who smash windows and assault our neighbors, deportation to countries people have never been to, and crackdown on protest movements in our cities. Under these attacks, many of us and our loved ones are struggling to maintain our mental health.

For the past several months, Guillermo has been living under the constant threat of being re-detained by ICE and locked up again in an immigration detention center. Guillermo has already experienced horrific abuse in immigration detention: torture, physical and psychological abuse, medical neglect, separation from his family and community. Guillermo previously organized while in detention to end these abuses, and he was brutally retaliated against for his efforts. The simple thought of being sent back to such a violent and dehumanizing place would have a devastating impact on any person’s mental health. For Guillermo–as someone striving to thrive, not just survive, with the mental illnesses he lives with–this threat of state violence is unbearable.

As friends, family and loved ones, it has been incredibly painful for us to watch Guillermo’s mental health continue to decline under the weight of the government’s persistent attempts to re-arrest him. As a person with brown skin, as a young man, as an immigrant, as someone who was previously incarcerated, and as someone living with mental illnesses, Guillermo is already at a highly disproportionate risk of targeting by police and the criminal legal system. That risk has only been made worse by the increased strain on Guillermo’s mental health. This moment calls on all of us to reflect on how we respond to mental health crises- not with punishment, policing, or carceral institutions but with compassion, care and collective responsibility. 

We are relieved to know that Guillermo is back home where he can seek professional support with the assistance of his community. We reiterate our commitment to keeping Guillermo and all people free, and to building a world that prioritizes healing, not punishment. We struggle for a society that includes all of us, and all of us includes our dear friend Guillermo.

In solidarity,

The Campaign to Keep Guillermo Free

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