Artesia- Day 3

Today, the presiding judge had hearings scheduled for about 15 women and their children. I was representing five of them and was hoping for a full bond hearing on three of them. These last three were the reason I was at the office until 1am last night. Due to attorney shortage, there was no one to prepare their cases until yesterday and I ended up drafting all the relevant legal arguments, motions and materials last night and faxing them to the court around 12. My colleagues were in the same boat.

At the start of the day, the judge (appearing televideo from D.C. area in the court trailer) re-arranged the order of her cases for the day which created chaos for the guards who were trying to coordinate the transfer of women and toddlers to the court section of the facility. Some were originally scheduled for the morning and were brought into the waiting room at 6am, only to wait the entire day for their hearing. Obviously, this is especially tough for the children, who are bored sitting in a small room all day with nothing to play with except a coloring book. On the other hand, it probably differs little from their other days in Artesia.

My day mostly consisted of running back and forth between the lawyer trailer and the court trailer, trying to guess what cases would go forward and when, and how to prepare my clients, who were staged in various places waiting for their hearings.

One of my clients had a bond hearing; the other two were delayed until Wednesday for lack of time. The client who had a bond hearing came from Honduras with her 17 year old son, her 9 year old daughter and her 3-year old daughter. She was threatened at gunpoint by a gangster in her home town and left the country with her 3 children, fleeing the gangster, the increasing violence in Honduras, and crushing poverty. When the judge announced a bond amount of $22,000 for her to be released from Artesia, she disintegrated. I was at a complete loss as I saw my client burst into tears and collapse into the arms of her son. I sat with her in the next room afterwards as she wept, unable to look at me. Having slept only a few hours, I was exhausted and emotional and it was all I could do not to blame myself and break down crying with her. The 9-year old had tears in her eyes too. The 3-year old went back to coloring in her book. All the mother could say was, "I have been detained for so long..." This family has been detained in Artesia for about 2 months and will likely remain there for at least 1 or 2 more unless she acquires the $22,000 to secure her release. I should specify that it is $10,000 to secure her own release, $6,000 for the 17-year old and $3,000 a piece for the 9-year old and the 3-year old.

Today, I had more undirected interaction with the moms and kids, because of all the waiting around for hearings. In the afternoon, I went into the bathroom trailer and encountered a child of about 4 playing in the sink. She was enjoying covering her face in the foam soap and splashing around the water. This seemed to absolutely delight her. While there aren't many toys in Artesia, kids find ways to play- it's just in their nature, and this is part of what makes Artesia and the sight of detained children an uncomfortable experience. Her mom could not speak Spanish- only a Mayan language, so she could only communicate with me through the help of her 11-year old son who spoke some Spanish. His mom was confused because she thought she had court but they had been waiting for 8 hours and no one was able to explain what was happening.

Late in the afternoon, I was finally getting ready for the last two hearings, and I sat in a waiting room chatting with my two client mothers and another woman waiting for her hearing. Their children played together or slept in their mothers' arms, while their moms shared their stories. They said that the ICE officers were alright- "if we don't bother them, they don't bother us"... but they added "they don't seem to understand kids, though." They explained that all the children were denied sweets, at all times, which drives the kids nuts. The guards will eat chocolate in front of the kids, but not allow the children to enjoy sweets. One woman said that in the beginning, the guards would offer candy to kids who would clean the bathrooms. Many, of course, would run to clean the bathrooms to earn their candy. She thought this was unfair to her toddler who was far too little for bathroom cleaning, so she herself stepped in to clean the bathroom and collect the prize, only to be told the officers were out of candy. It seems this and many other troubling practices tapered off as the media and attorneys began to catch wind of the situation down here.  They all agree that the medical service for the children is inadequate and were frequently sent away with the advice to give their children more water as a remedy for things like fever.*

The attorney team is in constant flux here. People come down for a week or a few days, and then have to return to their practices. Wednesday, we lost Alvaro. Last night we lost Allegra, and tonight we will lose Fiona and Ali. But a new recruit, Meredith, came in last night. To her credit, she actually got into town at midnight and went straight to our church/office to see if she could help. This morning, she was thrown into the chaos- she was set up with a woman who was scheduled for a hearing later the same day, with no prior preparation, because the rest of us were at capacity. She met the client and within 30 minutes had bonded with her and was 100% committed to seeing her case to the end, even if she had to do so from her home office in LA over the coming weeks. She spent her whole morning passionately preparing her new client for a hearing. I'm sure it was the sleep deprivation/heightened emotional state, but I teared up thinking about the way everyone on this project hits the ground running; it's disorienting to arrive in this strange place, but put a client with a claim in front of a lawyer and she knows what to do, whether it be in a city office or the middle of the desert. This is the way each of us begins here. By tomorrow, Meredith will be a veteran.

In the evening we finally gave ourselves a break to have a few cocktails at one of the 5 bars in Artesia. Though it's only been a few days, it feels like we're all fast friends. Tonight we welcomed Danielle, our newest addition.

*Though I have heard sickening stories about ICE officers in Artesia, I want to give a shout out to those officers who have in fact been a pleasure to work with. Most of the officers are here on 45 day rotation and, like us, come from different states and backgrounds. They control government policy no more than we do.