A Look Back to Artesia, and a Look into Karnes: Part 5
Just as the business day was drawing to a close on Monday, April 13th, we received a phone call from IJ Martinez. Unfortunately, the news was disappointing and devastating for E-. While the IJ found her credible and noted for the record that the rape she suffered...
A Look Back to Artesia, and a Look into Karnes: Part 4
ICE officials at Karnes never responded concerning our request to consider E-'s release on humanitarian grounds. So, as anticipated, it was back to San Antonio for the hearing on Tuesday, April 7th. I got into town the previous Friday night and then drove down to...
A Look Back to Artesia, and a Look into Karnes: Part 3
After several trips to Karnes, I got to know one client’s case fairly well. It was and continues to be an education. I’ll refer to the client as E-H-. E-H-‘s case is “withholding only,” which as I learned means that she’s not eligible to apply for asylum because of...
A Look Back to Artesia, and a Look into Karnes: Part 2
On to Karnes With only the Artesia episode as a guide, I arrived in San Antonio this past January 11th, once again not really knowing what to expect. The two experiences were very different. Whereas in Artesia the volunteers worked 16 to 18 hours every day,...
A Look Back to Artesia, and a Look into Karnes: Part 1
Family detention. Artesia. Karnes / Dilley. A year ago these were mere words. Sadly, that’s no longer the case. All of us volunteers have seen the families incarcerated at these facilities and we refuse to give up on them as our government seems to want us to do. I...
“Today, I’m Leaving Here.”
My client’s 8-year-old daughter told me that, as she hugged me goodbye and left for school, so that I could prepare her mom for their individual hearing on March 31, 2015. One week later, after being detained approximately 9 months (since July 5, 2014) – first in...
“I’m afraid to ask them for any medicine.”
I asked Guadalupe* what she meant by that – she had been on medication for anxiety and depression in her home country of Mexico. She was afraid to tell the medical staff when she got to the South Texas Family Detention Center that she took medication, because she...
An Impossible Amount, an Impossible Burden
As a volunteer attorney at the Dilley, Texas, family detention center, I’ve seen many children and their mothers come to me for help, seeking a way to gain asylum in the U.S. and finally have a safe place to raise their children, free from fear. One such example is an...
A Silent Crisis: Children Experiencing Trauma in Family Detention
During my week as a volunteer attorney in San Antonio, I visited with a mother and child at the Karnes family detention center who had been transferred from the Artesia detention center when it closed. The mother and her young son had already been detained for seven...
A Promise Unfulfilled
Last November, President Obama promised reforms to immigration enforcement that focus on actual threats to public safety while keeping immigrant families together. He evoked a more humane enforcement system where resources are not spent jailing vulnerable...
