Kim Kardashian is advocating for the release of Eli Torres, an incarcerated father whose daughter was one of 21 victims tragically killed in the Uvalde Elementary School shooting on May 24, 2o22.
As a recent law school student, Kardashian pleaded for Torres, father of 10-year-old Eliahana Cruz Torres, to be freed temporarily so he can attend the funeral of his daughter. Kardashian made the case that Torres should be granted access to attend the funeral because he was charged with a nonviolent drug offense, saying, “Her family is desperately hoping that her father, who is incarcerated for a non-drug offense, be granted temporary release.”
Torres and his daughter were scheduled to see each other in person just one week before the shooting, and he sadly received his last letter from his daughter days before. After hearing of his daughter’s death, Torres requested an immediate temporary release to attend the homegoing ceremony. Unfortunately, the request was denied by the Bureau of Prisons.
Kardashian wrote in her post, “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.”
According to the Houston Chronicle, Torres has been serving time in a Kentucky federal prison for gang-related crimes and drug trafficking. “The choices I made, it cost me. I could have prevented this from happening, somehow, some way, as a father. … I could have stopped it somehow. Protected her,” Torres wrote in his letter.
Although her father was unable to attend, family, friends, and Uvalde community members gathered on Thursday to lay Elihana to rest. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star has been more involved in criminal justice reform after recently passing the “baby bar” or First-Year Law Student bar exam, and continues to be outspoken about justice for the Uvalde victims.