You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny.

Serious question. If you’re a politics nerd like me, has a negative campaign ad ever changed your mind in favor of the candidate who ran the ad? Simply, do they work?

Scientific American says they are more memorable but research is inconclusive as to whether they changes minds. Journalist's Resource says “such ads may work to both ‘shrink and polarize the electorate’.”

Sadly, the Democratic primary run off for the Georgia 7^th has turned ugly over the last three weeks. Until that time, I admired the race for how high road and issue focused it was. But as next Tuesday’s runoff approaches, the knives have come out. David argued that Carolyn had served on a budget committee during the great recession and had to make some tough decisions about which programs to cut. Which of course means she didn’t care about education. Carolyn argued that David had not voted prior to running for office. Which of course means he does not care about all the awful things Trump has said and done.

The flyers that have been arriving in the mail over the last week or so over the last week or so have skewed negative. And it’s the typical nonsense that you see. The slightly out of focus black and white frame capture of the other candidate making them look sinister.  The prior public service taken completely out of context. The postcard covered with pictures of Trump and some of his more vile quotes.

I gotta say, though, this is negative campaigning on a modest, Democratic primary. It does not even come close to the mean stupidity we’ve see from our Republican gubernatorial candidates. No deportation trucks or blowing shit up.

This diminishes both candidates. And more importantly, from a campaign perspective, was anybody’s mind changed? Are you more or less likely to show up for the runoff, which will likely be very low turnout and decided by a small number of votes? For myself, I’m just a little bit less enthusiastic about showing up.  I will no doubt. And after the run off, I’ll support the winner, knock on doors and vote for them in November. But I’ll be a little less excited.

Honor the Streak

Today is about keeping up the streak. As of today I have 11 consecutive days of blogging. I started out with the idea of crappy words, and quickly evolved to stories. I realized that stories are easier to write and more compelling than some of the dry textbook like blogs I’ve written in the past.

The stories of the people at Stewart have rolled off my tongue is going out of my fingertips as I’ve written each day.

This is something we talk about at work all the time, but it’s finally hit home. The facts are important, but the stories bring the facts to life.

I’ve also realized how realize what it’s like to be fully self motivated by something. I want to write another piece, another blog, another story, because of the personal satisfaction. Seeing the clicks or the views on social media or Blogger are nice, but it’s about telling the story.

And now I am sitting here at church hearing the story of grace and mercy, to illustrate the definition. Guess I better pay attention. 

Day 12 in the can. We’ll see what’s next.

A Stewart Grandfather

The last family I met that day at Stewart was an older lady in a wheelchair (we'll call her Ruth). Ruth arrived at about 11 AM, with her daughter, and several of her grandchildren. They were there to visit Ruth’s husband Javier. 

Their story is a little more complicated. Javier is originally from Honduras. He has been in the country legally for over 60 years. About five years ago he was arrested and sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. Ruth did not go into the details about his crime, other than to acknowledge that he had done something wrong.

After he completed his federal prison sentence, he was transferred to ICE custody and placed in the Stewart pending deportation hearings. Ruth was not optimistic that he would win his case and expected that he would be deported back to Honduras. She was planning to sell her house and move to Honduras to be with him.

Ruth and Javier have seven kids, 17 grandchildren, and their first two great grandchildren on the way. Javier has been in the United States legally for over 60 years.

Based on Ruth's story there’s no doubt but that he committed a crime and paid the penalty. But after 60 years, isn’t it time to treat someone like a full-fledged citizen without the threat of being deported? Any action taken at this point would have a huge impact on his 25 family members, the two on the way, plus, I am sure many friends and extended family.

Like I said, it’s complicated. Yes, he is federal felon. He served 48 months in prison. Most federal inmates are there on drug charges (nearly half). And he’s done his time. At nearly 80 years old, it’s hard to imagine he presents much of a threat to society.

One other note on the needless hoops these families must jump through. One of Javier‘s granddaughters, a 16-year-old girl, was wearing torn jeans, much like many kids and even some adults wear these days. It’s part of the style. It wasn’t anything that jumped out at me when I saw the family come in. Either of my girls could have worn them to school. However, the guards decided that her torn jeans represented “see-through clothes” in the context of the Stewart dress code. They would not allow her back to see her grandfather.

Fortunately, our host from El Refugio was able to go to the guest house and get her a pair of sweatpants. Had it not been for Maria, the family would probably have been forced to go to back to Columbus to get clothes for the girl or she would have missed the chance to visit. 

And Ruth is in a wheelchair that doesn’t fit through the metal detector. Not one single guard got up and helped her and her chair through. I just don’t get it.

I have some sympathy for the guards there. Lumpkin is a small (tiny, population 1,091) town in the middle of nowhere. The Stewart complex is several times teh size of the small, mostly shuttered downtown area. They don’t have a grocery store or any other retailers. And I doubt CoreCivic pays these folks much money at all. Their priority is to keeps costs down and make money off the system. But on the other hand, like the rest of us, the guards have a chance to make life a little less hard for people in a bad situation. Why not do it?

Two more families

The next people I met at Stewart were Kelly and Jimmy. Kelly and her husband Juan had been together over a decade and their young son Jimmy was there with Kelly to visit his dad.

John had been in ICE custody since August 2017. She did not offer any details about how he came to be there and I didn’t ask. John had been in a detention facility near their home in Charleston until recently, when he was transferred to Stewart. Detainees are often transferred around to maintain bed occupancy commitments to the private contractors (usually CoreCivic and GEO Group). No consideration is given to where their families are located.

Marie, our host from El Refugio said that it’s not uncommon for families to drive through the night from hundreds of miles away to visit detainees over the weekend. Detainees are allowed one visitor per week, and since the visitation week runs from Sunday to Saturday they can get in two visits over one weekend. Visitation hours run from 8 to 8 Friday through Sunday and there are five windows for family/friend visitation. This means visits are allowed for up to 65 detainee each day during the weekend. With nearly 2,000 men in custody, weekends are scheduled out months in advance.

Kelly and Jimmy made the five hour drive down from Charleston, but for a moment feared they would not be able to meet with John because Kelly could not find his “A number”. Detainees are assigned an A# that is required for visits, letters and for looking up detainees in the ICE database. Kelly could not find the A# and the guards refused to look it up in their system. She was afraid she had made a five hour trip for nothing. Fortunately, Jimmy was able to find the number in the car and they were able to visit Juan.

Shortly after I arrived, sisters Annie and Emma came in to visit Candace’s partner of 12 years and four kids, Mateo. They traveled down from North Georgia Thursday morning with Emma and Meteo’s four children. They had to wait several hours to see Mateo, all the while Emma was in great pain from surgery two days before. She had been released from the hospital on Wednesday and they made the five hour drive Thursday because it was the only day Annie could get off work to drive her sister and the kids. Wife, two days post op, sister, and four kids in a hot, crowded waiting room, nothing to pass the time, no snacks for the kids, and a five hour drive back to north Georgia to look forward to.

And worst of all, Mateo was “lost” to his family for a month. His wife said on several occasions that his location was wrong in the ICE system. So for a month, his family had no idea where to find him. When she reported this to the guard at the front desk she said that was an ICE issue. Nothing for her to do.

I can’t imagine how panicked Emma was for her adult husband Mateo. Now try to imagine you’re a parent or a young child in that same situation. Seriously. Get your empathy on and take 30 seconds to ponder that before you continue…

By the time I left at 3pm, Emma and the kids were still waiting to see Mateo and had the five hour drive ahead of them. I’m looking for the clean closing here, but there isn’t one.

Next up, the story of a grandfather in ICE custody.

Peace and amen.

If it quacks like a duck it’s a prison

The official term for locations people are held awaiting immigration hearings is “detention centers” (e.g. Stewart Detention Center and Atlanta City Detention Center) and the people are referred to as “detainee”. But make no mistake, these are prisons, in many cases holding people with minor charges and on in some cases no charges at all pending against them. Crossing the border illegally the first time is misdemeanor; crossing the border at a checkpoint seeking asylum is not a crime at all. But like Alexandro’s son Ricky, who I wrote about a few days ago, many are held in these prison like conditions. Ricky was one of the lucky ones. His dad was able to get him out in 72 days.

On the short end, detainees will stay they four to five months awaiting their immigration hearings. On the longer end it can be 18 months or more.

I’ve had occasion two visit two jails in my life: first, the Chatham County Jail in Savannah, GA and the second, the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Neither were the Mayberry jail and Stewart felt much more like the latter.

No cameras, phones or any recording devices are allowed even on the grounds. I took a few snapshots from the car window as I was coming on the grounds, but these are not permitted. The school entrance looking picture on the ICE website is actually inside two layers of fencing and razor wire. I’ve added pictures approaching Stewart and in the parking area below.

After you pass through the razor wire fencing you enter the waiting area. It’s a small room with roughly a dozen chairs. You’re not allowed to bring a book or anything else to pass the time while you wait. Charity groups at one point brought coloring books and crayons for the guards to keep at the desk, but the guards removed them. I’d guess there were 5-6 children under 12 waiting to see their fathers. I’ve made the comment before that sometimes it’s just hard to be mean. To leave little kids in a hot crowded waiting room for hours and not allow them or their parents any way to keep the kids busy is just mean, and it’s got to make life more miserable for the guards, the parents and the other visitors, not to mention the kids.

For the detainees, I am sure it feels exactly like a prison. Aman said he gets one to two days a week out in the yard, for an hour or so a day. Other than that he has no exposure to natural light. All the detainee areas are inside the facility, with no access to natural daylight. Lights are never turned off, even during sleeping hours. Many of the detainees are required to work for as little as $4 per day. Remember, many of these detainees violated no laws and many more are accused only of misdemeanors.

Words matter. For a long time immigrant advocates have insisted on referring to the ICE facilities as “detention centers” and the immigrants as “detainees”, largely to avoid the stigma of calling them prisoners. But prisoners living in prisons is exactly what they are. And to call them that is not a reflection on them, it’s a reflection on America and each of us for allowing it to happen.

Happy Birthday, America

Happy Birthday, America

This is a complicated year for me. I love America and I am proud to be an American, AND, I am not very proud of the actions of my country right now.

It’s like being a parent, right? Most of us have said or heard the words, I love you unconditionally, but I’m not very happy with your behavior right now. Specifically, I’m not happy with:

o   Our racist, man-child president,

o   Family separation,

o   Mass incarceration,

o   Private prisons,

o   Mass shootings,

o   Taking away healthcare,

o   Muslim bans,

o   Attacking our allies and embracing despots.

I’ll stop there. All that said, American, I love you unconditionally, and I remain ever optimistic. I’m optimistic because I see the next generation coming up behind me. They are passionate, open minded, diverse, and more exposed to “other” than any generation before.

We are going through a valley right now, and I know our best days are ahead.

So Happy Independence Day, and God Bless America.

Amen.

Alexandro. Good news from Stewart

In my first Stewart blog I mentioned that I got to vicariously experience a father and son reunion while I was visiting. I was told by our host from El Refugio that this was a rare event for them to witness.

Alexandro, as before, not his real name, is an asylum seeker from Cuba, now living in Miami. Through his broken English and my broken Spanish we he was able to share that his 18 year old son Ricky had been picked up by ICE and held in detention for 72 days. The first few weeks were at the Folkston Detention Center south of Brunswick GA. As an aside, Folkston is run by GEO Group, another private prison firm similar to CoreCivic, which runs Stewart.

Alexandro arrived at Stewart first thing that Thursday morning to pick up his son who was scheduled to be released that day. Alexandro had driven all night from Miami. He and his son are asylum seekers from Cuba. Alexandro is working as a truck driver while he and his son are awaiting asylum hearings. I could not get a clear understanding of why his son had been picked up, but he had been cleared to be released pending their hearings. Our El Refugio host said they had a pretty good chance of having their asylum since they were coming from Cuba.

We ended up having to wait a few hours so complete our visits. Alexandro was in and out while he waited for his son to be released. It was sort of like my experiences with hospital discharges. The nurse tells you at 8:00 a.m. you’re going home “as soon as we finish the paperwork”, and by 5:30 that evening you are finally walking out the door.

As we were leaving at about 3:00 we saw an ICE agent escorting a very tall young Hispanic man through the gate. Everyone in our group had spoke with Alexandro and I think we all immediately recognized him as Ricky. Alexandro walked out of the door from the waiting area and they exchanged big, long hugs on the walkway between the door and the inside gate. I wish I could have taken a picture, but as I mentioned, no cameras allowed. Even the CoreCivic guard that was walking out with us said that doesn’t happen enough. We all clapped and gave Alexandro and his son big thumbs up and we all walked back to our cars with smiles on our faces. 

Taking tomorrow off for the July 4^th holiday. Back Thursday with “Stewart: If it quacks like a duck”.

Peace and freedom, for all of us, this Independence Day holiday.

Amen

How I got there. From ACDC to Stewart

As I attempt to share pieces of the lives of of the people I met, I'll spend some time and words to talk about the story of Stewart and how I got to be there.

My journey to Stewart Detention Center started on May 3 when I attended a candlelight vigil at the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC). The City of Atlanta contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold a certain number of detainees at the Atlanta City Jail (note, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced last month that she had signed an executive order prohibiting the city’s jail from accepting new detainees from ICE).

 The vigil was attended by people of many faiths and of no particular faith, all speaking out against the conditions at immigration detention facilities and in memory of all the detainees who have died in ICE custody. Twenty-nine deaths have been recorded since the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) started publishing records in December 2015.

The names of the three who died in Georgia detention centers in the last eighteen months were remembered and repeated over and over. Jean Jimenez-Joseph, 27, Panama, held at Stewart Detention center, died 5/15/17 due to suicide. Atulkumar Babubhai Patel, 58, India, held at ACDC, died 5/17/17 from complications from congestive heart failure. Yulio Castro-Garrido, 33, Cuba, Stewart, died 1/31/18 due to complications from pneumonia. There have been numerous reports of poor medical care and detainee oversight at multiple ICE detention locations, including the ones in Georgia.

At the vigil I had the chance to meet Amilcar Valencia, the Executive Director of El Refugio Ministry, who told me a bit about their work and invited me to visit Stewart. My friend John, who invited me to the vigil, hand been there before and we decided to go at our next opportunity, which was June 28.

Our trip started and ended at Waffle House with Waffle House, Stewart and Country's Barbecue in between. I also got a chance to meet a new friend, Stan, along the way.

Next up, Alexandro's story, followed by more about Stewart…if it quacks like a duck.

Pics from ACDC