Issue 19: "It's like this place is blocking my imagination"
Welcome to this week’s edition of IMM Print Weekly, a newsletter that showcases the stories of detained immigrants and their allies.
We seek to shine a light on how immigrant prisons and jails impact human beings and communities, celebrate the work of those advocating for detention abolition, and provide resources on how to get involved.
In this week’s edition: the importance of community presence in immigrant prisons and a terrifying journey for two immigrants from Guinea and Cameroon.
Freedom for Immigrants is continuing to raise money for our National Bond Fund. Since we launched our bond fund, we have bonded out over 260 people, paying over $1.6 million. If any of the stories we’ve published in IMM Print have moved you, please consider donating here.
SPOTLIGHT: An Adelanto Visitation Volunteer Counsels Patience, Tenacity and Solicitude
Milena is one of dozens of volunteers who regularly makes the round trip drive to Adelanto, typically two to three times per month. On each visit, she usually spends time with one or two people. Visitor volunteers are often the eyes and ears of immigrant jails and prisons. In addition to providing human support to people isolated by immigration detention, volunteers document possible human and civil rights abuses to provide a semblance of transparency in an otherwise opaque system.
“I’d say everyone is experiencing some level of depression and desperation. Some handle it better. Some say, ‘I have a hearing in two weeks, I think it’s OK and I’ll be out of here.’ But then you meet people who’ve been there a year and half or two years and have gone through the entire exhausting process, and they just don’t know anymore.”
After three years of visiting people in Adelanto, Milena has two things to say to those thinking about signing up as a volunteer visitor: 1) Think about what this means to you personally, and what you’re trying to get out of this. Because some people get very invested very quickly – and then they disappear, because of the intensity of the experience 2) Let them tell you their stories. You will be surprised at what you learn.
Read the rest of the interview with Milena here.
Learn about how to be a visitor volunteer here.
The Deadly Journey to Detention in America
For African asylum-seekers the journey to the United States is terrifying. From Cameroon one of the only ways to reach this continent is through Ecuador, because it is the only South American country that does not require visas. From Ecuador they travel to Columbia, and from Columbia they must pass through the Darién Gap, also known as the Panama Jungle. This is one of the most notoriously dangerous places in the world.
The Minority Humanitarian Foundation picked up two immigrants from Guinea and Cameroon when they were released from ICE detention after many months.
“One of the men sitting next to me just told me his 10 month year old daughter died while he was in ICE dentition. He was in detention for five long months. Why are we putting people through this? Why are we needlessly imprisoning people who have already been through so much? The answer is simple. It’s because people are profiting off of it. People are profiting off this unimaginable suffering. And it needs to stop.”
Read more here.
Get involved:
In an age of pandemic, it is important to think about all those in jail, prison, and detention right now. There are big, important fights ahead. But one tangible, immediate thing we can all do now to help free people is donate to local bond/bail funds. Find your local fund here.