Elizabeth Keathley immigrated to the US in 2003 to live with her husband, a U.S. citizen. In 2006, she applied for a drivers license at the DMV, where she was asked if she also wanted to sign up to vote. She did, received a voter registration card in the mail, and proceeded to vote in the midterms that year - unintentionally violating the federal statute banning non-citizens from voting.
Keathley’s deportation proceedings are the subject of the play THE COURTROOM, which will be performed as a fundraiser for migrant services in the Catholic Diocese of Lexington this Saturday. Though it takes place in a courtroom, Director Christian Cole Matson of Earendel Theatricals says it’s not a courtroom drama.
"Every single word is taken directly from the transcripts of the trial," said Matson. "We're not doing it like a dramatized play where, you know, we've Hollywood-ized it."
The play was arranged by Emmy-nominated Succession actor Arian Moayed, and will be performed in Lexington by Earendel Theatricals, a Pikeville-based production company. The play features performers from Pikeville, Lexington, Louisville, and Indiana. Louisville-based actress and dialect coach Joy Lancerna Coronel plays the lead role of Keathley.
The first act of the play takes place in Chicago Immigration Court, while the second act takes place in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
"What's in the balance is whether a woman who has moved to a new country and started a family and had a baby with her husband, whether she's going to be permanently separated from her family," explained Matson. "It's complete family separation based on an innocent mistake."
Ultimately, Keathley was found to have made an innocent mistake and was not deported. Her attorney argued that, as an employee at the DMV appeared to grant her permission to vote, she had acted in good faith and proceeded honestly - a legal defense called "entrapment by estoppel," in which someone acts on erroneous advice provided by an authorized official.
But Matson wonders if deportation proceedings taking place today would come to the same conclusion.
"They're advertising for immigration judges online, asking people, "Do you want to deport immigrants? Become a judge," making it clear that they want immigration judges to find reasons to pick people out," said Matson, paraphrasing ads from the U.S. Department of Justice and posts made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem.
The Courtroom will be presented in Hehman Hall at the Cathedral of Christ the King this Saturday. Doors are at 6, and the performance is at 7, with a Q&A to follow. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with proceeds benefiting legal services for immigrants provided by the Catholic Diocese of Lexington.