Visitation & Pen Pal programs lead to immigrant advocacy
The first time I visited an immigrant in detention was in August 2017. His name was Ronaldo, and he was a frightened, shy, barely-19 year old young man. He was originally from El Salvador and had legally crossed into the US with his family in 2012 to claim asylum. He had missed a court date that he hadn’t heard about, so ICE apprehended him and threw him into immigration prison.
I felt a deep sense of anger about two profound injustices:
Most of our roughly 200 detention centers are run by for-profit private prison companies. Each year, they rake in billions of dollars of revenue by dehumanizing some of the most marginalized and voiceless people in the world.
Roughly 85% of detained immigrants are not able to obtain legal counsel, making it all but impossible for them to successfully stake their claim to live in the US. A large percentage of these folks are subsequently deported - oftentimes to life-threatening conditions.
Our visitation and pen pal programs have grown significantly since those early visits, and the value for our volunteers is clear: as our sense of shared humanity has grown, we have become compelled to act on behalf of our detained friends.
The majority of the CIJF donors have participated in the Casa de Paz visitation & pen pal programs. They have watched their detained friends struggle to find legal assistance, and as a result have become advocates on behalf of their friends.
If you would like to participate in the Pen Pal program, you can start the process here. If you want to help our detained friends with their legal fees, you can donate here.
And many thanks to all who have already joined us in this cause.
