Stories

Sandra is a US citizen and her husband John recently renewed his green card. In July, John returned to Jamaica to watch his daughter from a previous marriage graduate. When he came back on July 10, he was questioned by authorities in Atlanta. They asked him to provide paperwork in reference to a prior arrest in 2004. John’s 2004 arrest had gotten him 12 months probation, which he completed with no problems. He also paid his fine and never had to go to jail. John brought the paperwork to Homeland Security on August 13th, as requested, and was immediately detained. The couple never saw detention coming.

Sandra is a US citizen and her husband John recently renewed his green card. In July, John returned to Jamaica to watch his daughter from a previous marriage graduate. When he came back on July 10, he was questioned by authorities in Atlanta. They asked him to provide paperwork in reference to a prior arrest in 2004. John’s 2004 arrest had gotten him 12 months probation, which he completed with no problems. He also paid his fine and never had to go to jail. John brought the paperwork to Homeland Security on August 13th, as requested, and was immediately detained. The couple never saw detention coming.

Martin and Ronald are two men who are currently detained. They sent their stories to Detention Watch Network to share some of the brutal realities found in detention centers. Names and exact locations have been omitted or changed to protect their identity.

Michel (not his real name) is a professional jazz musician. In 1984 he was invited to come to the United States on a J-1 visa as part of a cultural exchange program. He returned to the Ivory Coast a few months later. In 1985 he was invited to come back to the US and has now spent over twenty years living here. Shortly after he returned in 1985 he married a United States citizen. However, Michel’s new wife was underage (they’d married with the written consent of her mother), and neither one understood how to apply for permanent residency or exactly what that implied. Three years later they had a daughter. They separated when the daughter was very young, but never divorced. Michel is trying to determine if they are still legally married.

The first thing that I noticed was the doors. After we went through our second locked door, I decided to start counting. By the time we got to our designated room and set up our tables and paperwork, we had gone through eight locked doors. I found that kind of lack of freedom astounding.