Stories

A guard told them flat out, “You will be deported to your country.” And one of the women asked, “In this condition that I am in? I will not be able to travel like this.” The guard cruelly responded, “It doesn’t matter; you have to leave this country regardless if the doctor says that you can’t travel.”

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.

Sergia made ends meet by working the graveyard shift at a nut factory, and whenever possible, working for an informal shuttle service. While driving a group from San Antonio to Houston, Sergia got into an accident. The officer who came to the scene asked everyone in the van for their papers, and not all were able to show proof of their legal status.

Christian requested to put on proper clothing, and the officers escorted him to Anne’s bedroom so he could dress himself. The officers then took Christian and Anne’s keys, making it appear that he had left her. Anne had to call her Senator’s office in order to find her fiancé.

I have been “detained” by the Department of Homeland Security for over ten months now, as I had been fighting my deportation case and hoping for a second chance. I really don’t like the word detained because I feel it is a word used by “them” in an attempt to lessen the truth; that I am their prisoner.