Artesia- Day 9

Today was one of the most intense and emotional days of my life. We, the AILA Pro Bono Project, WON our case- our first asylum case to go through to adjudication within the detention center in Artesia. A Honduran mother and her two children were converted to lawful "asylees" and they are now free from FLETC and sleeping in a hotel that's a block away from my own. Some of our lawyers took them out for pizza this evening, where the kids ordered everything on the menu. They then bought out the local Walmart with toys, car seats and creature comforts for the newly freed family.

Everyone was well-dressed and on their best behavior at FLETC today, knowing that the reporters would be coming for the big hearing today. Our crew consisted of our leaders- Laura Lichter and Stephen Manning- Christina (who handled the case today), Danielle, Kely, Brigit, Cynthia, Claudia, Katy, Marty, Linda, Rosa and Frank. We also had a pro bono attorney from Jones Day, two semi-local attorneys that stopped by to help out for the day, an attorney from the ACLU, an attorney from the UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, a professor of gender and refugee issues and another attorney that studied under her. It's quite a change from last Friday, when our numbers dwindled to 4.

The day started out quiet in the attorney trailer. 6 of the attorneys had morning bond hearings in the court trailers, and transportation problems in the facility delayed the arrival of all of our clients. For me, the day quickly became emotional as one by one, the attorneys returned from their hearings demoralized and defeated. Cynthia's bond hearing involved almost two hours of testimony, and ended with a canned decision from the judge granting bond of $20,000. His decision did not appear to be uniquely tailored to the facts of the case. Later in the day, she recalled that her client's daughter kept waving at the judge, the DHS attorney and the Spanish interpreter over the video, but only the interpreter returned a smile. Brigit's client had a powerful claim for asylum, having suffered serious domestic abuse in her home country and discrimination for her Mayan ancestry. She also testified for almost 2 hours, and received a $25,000 bond, despite showing a powerful claim for political asylum. Danielle and Kely were prevented from seeking bond for their clients because of filing issues in their cases. We have been seeing this all week- judges are inconsistent about their willingness to accept faxes and mailing from Artesia requires at least 2 days. Some judges prefer faxing in certain situations but concede that their faxes are extremely old and sometime not working. Over and over again, we are told that either DHS or the Court has not received our arguments and exhibits, and our clients' hearings are set off another 3-4 weeks.

At big table tonight, Christina said, "We are a team here. Every win is everyone's win. And each loss is everyone's loss." Each time one of these amazing attorneys came back from court deflated, angry and/or embarrassed, I felt it like it was me. These girls are some of the best immigration attorneys I have met and they each fought like tigers in their hearings, brilliantly and passionately, but it was not enough in the end. We are set up for failure at every step here. Lisa, another attorney, could not even make it to FLETC today because filing next day mail required a 1.5 hour drive to a bigger town once she had rushed an asylum package together. The futility of everything finally overwhelmed me and it was all I could do to stay focused on the families at hand.

Just when I was at my most hopeless point in the day, Christina's client walked into the attorney trailer and we got the news that she had won her case for political asylum. This elicited a standing ovation and hugs and high fives all around. Our other clients hugged her too, with a sense of hope. We channeled all the emotion again at the "Big Table" over cake and champagne.

Today was a major victory. I wish her luck in the new life she is about to start in the U.S. and am proud to have played a role in it.