Can a Surge Protector Generate a Spark?
My three Case Western Reserve University School of Law students and I are part of an Ohio and New York volunteer legal team at Dilley, Texas (see photo). I had been to Artesia, and volunteered there, but while there are similarities between the two facilities, there...
Hope and Disappointment in Dilley
I spent last week at the detention center in Dilley, Texas, volunteering to help mothers and children detained there. Having previously experienced the harsh conditions at the facility in Artesia, I was immediately struck by the visible differences here in Dilley. Any...
One Week, Two Injunctions
What a week. Last week began with a preliminary injunction temporarily preventing President Obama from implementing his executive action plan to protect millions of immigrant families from deportation. The week ended with a preliminary injunction temporarily...
Who Will Carry the Torch?
Even now, over seven months since my first tour of duty in Artesia, I still get chills just thinking about it. I am not sure I have really taken the time to process everything I experienced. I am not sure I want to. Last Wednesday morning I got a text message from...
The Weight of 216 days
216 days. That is how long Sofía and her daughter Isabel* had to wait for a chance at release from family detention at the southern border. After over seven months of confinement at two different facilities, they will finally be reunited with their family lawfully...
Ending Artesia
Artesia changed me. It changed me as a lawyer and it changed how I interact with people. I know that it changed all the volunteers, it changed the officials who worked there, and more than anyone, it changed the children and mothers who were held there, sometimes for...
Claiming Victory at What Price?
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is claiming victory in the transition of its family detention center model from Artesia, New Mexico to Dilley, Texas. On a working group tour of the Dilley detention center on January 13, 2015, ICE sang its own praises about...
The Happiest Day Still Shadowed by Injustice
Yesterday was one of the happiest days in my life as an immigration lawyer. I’m helping out pro bono with clients at the Karnes Family Detention Center in Texas and yesterday Immigration Judge Glenn McPhaul granted a $1500 bond to my client from El Salvador and her 19...
Who Are We Turning Away?
A pregnant woman, separated from her husband in a time of regional conflict and instability, flees the central region of her country with a single suitcase and her 2 year old daughter and 1 year old son. The goal is to travel by train to the closest major southern...
Artesia: A Day in the Tour of Duty, Part 4
This is what you need to know: The due process violations are still going on in Artesia. While the nation’s attention is on other concerns like Ebola and the mid-term elections, mothers and children are still being detained in Artesia and other facilities. The work...
