In the February Issue of the JFON-DFW Newsletter, I reported that our Staff Attorney Maria Macias was going to the Dilley Detention Center for a week of Pro Bono work with the women and children detained there. The following is Maria's report.
This is quite long, but please take a few minutes too read.
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The South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC) is privately run and the cost of keeping each person is about $ 300 a day. The cost of tracking the women with an ankle bracelet costs about $ 13 a day. Senselessly detaining women and children, who are eventually released, is costing our government millions of dollars. Detaining women and children is inhumane, and although the government tries to package the center as a happy place, it is not. It is a place of desperation and a place where women lose hope, " says Attorney Maria Macias.
I spent the week of February 28th in Dilley, Texas.
Dilley is home to the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC). The STFRC is a privately run detention center that profits from detaining women and children.* The CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project provides pro bono legal representation to the women and children detained at STFRC.
National JFON and JFON Dallas-Fort Worth agreed to jointly sponsor me so I could volunteer with CARA for an entire week. It was a rewarding experience and one I'll never forget. I left the center in awe of the women's bravery, but also dismayed at the way these courageous women and their children are treated during their apprehension and detention. These women and children are detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
CARA volunteers must commit to at least a week of volunteer work. The reason CARA needs volunteers is because there is a need to prepare hundreds of women for their credible fear and reasonable fear interviews. Credible and reasonable fear interviews are conducted by an asylum officer at the STFRC. The asylum officer determines, based on an interview, if there is a significant possibility that the woman has a viable asylum claim. If the asylum officer believes the woman has a viable asylum claim, he or she will issue a positive finding after the interview.
If a woman receives a positive finding, she is usually released from detention and can leave with an ankle bracelet or by paying a bond. The ankle bracelet does not carry a cost, but the detainee must agree to mandatory check-ins at a local ICE office. ICE officers pressure the women to accept the ankle bracelet instead of requesting a bond hearing. They tell the women that requesting a bond hearing will take months and that the cost of the bond is about $ 20,000. In reality, a detainee can request a bond hearing, and it will take two to three days to see the immigration judge. The immigration judge will issue a bond amount at the hearing. The normal range for a bond is between $ 1,500 and $ 5,000.
The CARA Project stresses to the women that even though ICE pressures them to take the ankle bracelet, they need to choose what is best for them. They should not opt for an ankle bracelet only because ICE tells them they should. CARA tries to educate the women so they do not fall for ICE's intimidation tactics.
Volunteers are required to arrive in Dilley on Sundays for an orientation. I arrived for the orientation and met six CARA staff members and three other volunteers. The staff warned us that it would be a difficult week because we had a very low number of volunteers. They stated that the prior week there were 15 volunteers, and the following week they were expecting 20 volunteers. Our little volunteer team accepted the challenge and agreed to give it our all.
We arrived the next day at the STFRC. We had to go through security, and we were not allowed to take in any phones. We had been previously warned that we were not allowed to take any pictures of the detention center,even if it was from across the street. The CARA staff asked us to comply because they had to deal with the repercussions if the volunteers do not comply with those requests. Our access at the STFRC was limited to the immigration court and visitation trailers, where women met with CARA for legal advice.
Throughout the week we prepped many women for their interviews. For many, this was the first time they had ever told anyone their story. It is important that the volunteers build a rapport and gain the women's trust during the prep meetings. It is imperative for the women to be clear and organized at their official interview. It was during these preps that I learned the way these women and their children are treated at the border.
Once women and children are apprehended by ICE, they are sent to cold rooms they called the "hielera" (which means cooler or ice box in Spanish). They described this place as a freezing room with concrete walls, floor, and benches. The room had no windows, the lights were on all the time, and the air conditioner was always on full blast. They said their children shivered from the cold, and they asked for food or blankets, the ICE officers told them they were criminals.
The women were pressured to abandon their claims of asylum and sign their deporation orders. One of the women said that her child takes prescription medication, and it was taken away in the "hielera." Her child was very sick, and she asked an ICE officer for the child's medication. The officer's response was, "this place is not a hospital."
After spending two to three days in the "hielera," the women and children are transferred to a place they called the "perrera" (which means dog kennel in Spanish). They described this place as an area with mattresses on the floor and rooms separated by chain fences. The women said their treatment was better in the "perrera," but they were still constantly pressured to sign their deportation orders. They were repeatedly called "criminals." The mothers were also threatened that they would be separated from their children. After a few days in the "perrera (dog kennel)," they were transferred to the STFRC.
The STFRC is packaged as a cute, happy camp. The cells/barracks are called a cute name -- "Pink Frog". The other areas of the center are called "neighborhoods." The women and children are forced to wear uniforms that consisted of pink and blue sweats. It seems as if there is an attempt to disguise the STFRC from what it really is -- a place where women and children are incarcerated with assigned sleeping quarters and uniforms.
Most of the preps I did involved women who had fled their homes due to gang violence, extortion and domestic violence. They told me that gangs had taken over their neighborhoods, and they were forced to pay them or give them free services/goods to stay alive. One of the women stated that her neighborhood had two-hundred gang members, and she was forced to give them free hair cuts at her salon. She tried to remodel her home painting over some of the gang graffiti outside her home. Gang members killed her brother as punishment. She fled the next day.
As she told me her story, she sobbed as she recalled leaving her home and remembering her brother's death. She said that she was not allowed to say "Good-Bye" to her parents. Her parents also lived in the gang infested neighborhood. If a person from one gang territory goes to another gang territory, they are interrogated and killed.
Another woman told me that she left her country because her ex-husband tried to kill her. When she lived with him, she was subjected to attacks from him. At one point, he boiled water and threw the hot water at her. She has scars all over her legs from that incident.
During most days, I heard stories every 30 minutes from women. In every story, they described a legitimate fear of returning to their country. They felt that if they go back they and their children would be killed.
I represented a woman in court, because she had received a negative finding from an asylum officer after her credible fear interview. She was an owner of a small business in Honduras and lived alone with her young daughters. The gangs arrived at her home one day to tell her that she had to pay a weekly tax. She was to pay a certain amount every week, or they would kill her and her daughters. She complied for a whole year until they told her that she would have to pay more. She pleaded with them that she could not afford the increase, but they told her that she knew the consequences if she did not pay. She closed her store and fled the next day. I represented her in the immigration court where an immigration judge reviewed the negative finding. Fortunately, the judge believed her claims and overturned the asylum officer's findings. The woman cried tears of relief during the judge's ruling. She expressed her gratitude afterwards and told me she was happy that she would finally leave the STFRC.
The majority of women are released from the STFRC because over 90% receive positive findings after their interviews. This release rate is thanks to CARA's efforts to give access to legal counsel to the detained women. It is hard to understand why the STFRC exists if most of the women are released.
I had a full circle moment when I left the Dilley. I was at the San Antonio airport for my flight to Dallas. While I was in the security line, I saw a woman and child from STFRC. I noticed that they had to go through a secondary inspection, so I waited for them outside. I approached her and she said she recognized me from the center. The woman said she need help getting her gate because she had no idea where to do. I walked them to their gate and said farewell. She smiled and said "Thank You." The woman and child were going to San Francisco, because she "wants to provide a better life for her daughter."
I thought about that all day. These women did not leave their homes with joy. It was the most difficult thing they had to do. It meant saying, "Good-bye" to friends and family they may never see again. They left because staying meant imminent death.
I hope my experience can shed some light to those who ask why family detention should end.
* Names of the women and children who Maria counseled are not given due to confidentially.
