Last month, about 200 protesters gathered on Charlottesville’s downtown mall to sing in support of immigrants in this country and to voice fears for their future.
“I’ve very worried about the course that Americas is taking. I feel it is unpatriotic, un-American," said one demonstrator.
"We are called to take care of the poor, to love the immigrant, and that is something out government is not doing," another explained.
And a third told RadioIQ: "Breaking up families, the terrible conditions in the detention centers, and the plans for increasing the network of detention camps.”
They expressed frustration at being unable to do more for people locked up by ICE.
Among them was Karen Mann, a minister at Sojourners United Church of Christ in Charlottesville. She keeps a busy schedule but has made time for the 90-minute drive to Farmville each week – to visit people held at the ICE detention center there.
“One of my guys tells me, when I go visit, he says, ‘I couldn’t wait for you to come back,’ He’s sad and lonely and depressed, and these visits give him an hour of company and companionship and hope.”
More than 700 men are held at Farmville, and retired minister Gene Locke also visits some of them.
“It’s a scared moment to me to be able to say to them, ‘We see you. We hear you. You’re not forgotten,’" he explains.
Karen Mann says most have relatives here.
“One of them has three children at home – all of whom are U.S. citizens, and has not seen his kids in a year and a half.”
Most of the detainees – 76% by one estimate – have no criminal record and are waiting for their day in court. They live in large areas filled with bunkbeds – 80 men to a room.
“I can’t imagine the snoring with 80 guys at night,” Mann jokes.
Many complain that they’re fed too little by the prison, and rations from the commissary are expensive. Gene Locke says the marginal conditions of confinement prompt some to give up on life in the United States.
“There’s pressure for self-deportation. I mean you can only take this for so long, so part of the value of the visits is to help keep these guys’ spirits up.”
Prisoners can watch TV and take turns playing video games, but there is little else to do during long days of waiting.
“More than the specific conditions of the detention center, it is the despair that people feel in there – the isolation and the hopelessness, knowing that they’ve done nothing wrong, and they’re being held,” says Mann.
Locke adds that visits can be painful and exhausting.
“It’s a very intense experience I have to emphasize. The person you’re across from – number one, they don’t know you, so you have to establish rapport and trust. Secondly, they’re in an extreme situation. Most of us don’t have any experience knowing how to respond to that. Their pain, their suffering comes through.”
But he argues it’s important to show up.
“The facility knows that we’re from the outside -- that there are people who do care. But number two, there is visibility, and with visibility comes accountability.”
Others hoping to help immigrants have donated to bond funds so guys can await their day in court at home, and there are organizations like the Legal Aid Justice Center and Amica that provide lawyers at no charge.
“The chances of getting your case won and out of detention go way down when you can only represent yourself, but having some kind of legal assistance, the chances go way up,” Locke says.
But when courts rule in favor of immigrants, ICE almost always appeals the decision, forcing people to remain in detention.
If you’d like to visit someone at Farmville, contact Karen Mann – karen@sojourners-ucc.org
To help with legal assistance contact amicacenter.org or justice4all.org
To provide food and financial assistance to families of immigrants in detention, visit sinbarrerascville.org
