Kim Kardashian has added her voice to the calls for the temporary release of a non-violent drug offender whose daughter was killed in the Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
"This is Eliahana ‘Ellie’ Cruz Torres, 10 years old, and one of the 19 victims of the shooting in Uvalde, TX," Kardashian wrote alongside a photo of the girl on Twitter. "Her family are desperately hoping that her father, who is incarcerated for a non violent drug offense, be granted temporary release so that he can attend her funeral."
Kardashian is best known for modeling and for her reality TV show and fashion products, but she has also become an advocate for the wrongfully incarcerated.
“So far their requests have been denied. I ask the @officialFBOP to grant Eli Torres temporary release so that he can say his last goodbye to his baby girl. Every parent deserves that right,” she wrote.
Torres is currently incarcerated in Kentucky, where he is serving out a 25-year sentence.
Prison officials offered him the chance to watch the funeral via livestream, but he said he wanted to be at the event in person.
Torres spoke with the Houston Chronicle, expressing the guilt he felt for being locked up during the shooting.
“I could have prevented this from happening, somehow, some way, as a father. … I could have stopped it somehow. Protected her,” he said.
Congressman Joaquin Castro has also called on the Federal Bureau of Prisons to grant a temporary release for Torres.
“I (and others) have repeatedly asked @OfficialFBOP to temporarily release Eli Torres under supervision to attend his daughter’s funeral. I strongly disagree with their decision to deny the request. In the wake of this tragedy, every parent should be able to say goodbye,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
Despite the pleas of his supporters, it seems unlikely Torres will be released in time to make the funeral; the event is Thurday beginning at 11:00 am CST, with internment planned for later in the day.
