Speaker 1: Native Lampod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Speaker 1: Reason Choice Media. This country has its own history with
Speaker 1: internment camps, thinking about Japanese internment, and as we sit
Speaker 1: here in Black History Month, we are witnessing people who
Speaker 1: are black, who are brown, who are Asian, who are
Speaker 1: also white, who are being held in modern day internment camps.
Speaker 2: And so I want to.
Speaker 1: If we can andrew pivot to this recent pro public
Speaker 1: apiece where there were letters shared from young people who
Speaker 1: are currently detained by ICE. There's one where we can
Speaker 1: actually hear the words from the young lady herself, a
Speaker 1: fourteen year old Venezuelan girl, and I also hope that
Speaker 1: we would also read the letters. The link is over
Speaker 1: here in the chat if you guys need to see
Speaker 1: to pick a letter to read.
Speaker 2: But I think we should read letters.
Speaker 1: And then maybe we can end with Arianna in with
Speaker 1: Arianna's letter, and then.
Speaker 2: Absolutely we can get to CTAs. So I guess I
Speaker 2: can start.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read a letter from a nine year
Speaker 1: old Susie. Sorry susage, susage, Sorry I don't know how
Speaker 1: to pronounce. This is s us e j F, a
Speaker 1: nine year old from Venezuela who's living in Houston, Texas,
Speaker 1: detained for fifty days, and this is her letter.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: My name Miss susage F is what it says. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry if I'm mispronouncing, and I am nine years old.
Speaker 1: I am from Venezuela. I have been fifty days in
Speaker 1: Delli Immigration Processing Center and I want to go to
Speaker 1: my country, but I missed my school and my friends.
Speaker 1: I feel bad since when I came here to this
Speaker 1: place because I have been here too long. I have
Speaker 1: been two years and six months in United States, and
Speaker 1: I was happy with my friends in the school, but
Speaker 1: now I need to leave. I miss my family and
Speaker 1: my country. So now I want to go to Venezuela,
Speaker 1: but my mom do not want to leave because she
Speaker 1: wants a better future for me. Seeing how people like
Speaker 1: me immigrants are being treated, changes my perspective about the US.
Speaker 1: My mom and I came to the US looking for
Speaker 1: a good and safe place to live, and my mom
Speaker 1: was looking for a good job.
Speaker 3: I can read Gabby MM, if you'd like me to please, oh.
Speaker 3: I my name is Gabby MM. I'm fourteen years old
Speaker 3: from Colombia, Colombia. I've been detained in Dalli Immigration Processing
Speaker 3: Center for twenty days, and I haven't been getting the
Speaker 3: right education due to being in here. I haven't been
Speaker 3: able to see my family and friends since I got here.
Speaker 3: I started to feel so sad. Also, I haven't felt
Speaker 3: happy since I got here. The officers have a bad
Speaker 3: manner of speaking to residents when they are asking anything.
Speaker 3: The workers treat the residents unhumanly verbally, and I don't
Speaker 3: want to imagine how they would act if they were unsupervised.
Speaker 3: I really want to go home. I don't care if
Speaker 3: I have to go to Katie or Columbia because in
Speaker 3: both places I have a home. In school, I get
Speaker 3: bored a lot and I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3: I made friends here and they told me how how
Speaker 3: long they've been here for seven months, and I get
Speaker 3: really surprised because I can't imagine how bad and sad
Speaker 3: and stressed being here. I want to tell you guys
Speaker 3: how I feel, and it's hell, Like I really want
Speaker 3: to go. The food is bad. I'm tired of almost
Speaker 3: the same thing. I feel so much sadness and depression
Speaker 3: of not being able to leave. It's really sad to
Speaker 3: hear that people's cases are being denied and getting sinned
Speaker 3: back to their countries. Gabby MM is a fourteen year
Speaker 3: old from Colombia who was living in Houston, Texas, detained
Speaker 3: for twenty days.
Speaker 4: I'll read this one from a young girl named Mia.
Speaker 4: It's rett it's Spanish. I'll read it piece by piece
Speaker 4: and just quickly translate it. She wrote, Mia Valentina pasvaria
Speaker 4: yoso de Venezuelao dengos. So her name is Mia. She's
Speaker 4: been living in the US for three years and she's
Speaker 4: only seven years old. Uh thngo set alua ko raqui
Speaker 4: keo ameguelaelos. She said she's been in detention for seventy days.
Speaker 4: She doesn't want to be there anymore. She said she
Speaker 4: misses her grandparents xos a misamegos aquiuela. She said she
Speaker 4: misses her school, she misses her friends, and she doesn't
Speaker 4: like the foodikio the aquio amisteos esperos. She just keeps repeating,
Speaker 4: I don't want to be here anymore. I miss my
Speaker 4: uncles and I hope that I can leave soon. And
Speaker 4: she drove. She drew a picture excuse me, of herself,
Speaker 4: her mother and her sister.
Speaker 5: Hmm, you know, just for the benefit of our listeners.
Speaker 5: This is a part of a great reporting work done
Speaker 5: by Pro pro Publica.
Speaker 3: The reporter here.
Speaker 5: Was Mika Rosenberg, and she visiting this facility, asked the
Speaker 5: detainees if if their children would be willing to either
Speaker 5: write letters or indoor draw pictures depicting what their experiences
Speaker 5: had been there at Delhi. And what you heard from
Speaker 5: my co hosts were a few of the reflections we
Speaker 5: obviously for you all on the listening side. Couldn't see
Speaker 5: the images of the pictures that were drawn, but we
Speaker 5: will include them in the show notes. A link to
Speaker 5: the Pro Publica article and you can go back and
Speaker 5: have a look at the letters that are that are
Speaker 5: that are held there and and and the pictures that
Speaker 5: they have drawn.
Speaker 2: Andrew can can we listen to the letter from.
Speaker 5: I just going to say well, end with Ariana's well
Speaker 5: in with the contribution, as Angela just indicated from Ariana.
Speaker 6: Hello, my name is Ariana Vie. I'm fourteen years old
Speaker 6: and I'm from Monduas. I've been detained for forty five
Speaker 6: days and I have never felt so much fear to
Speaker 6: go to a place as I feel here. Every time
Speaker 6: I remind myself that once I go back to hondudas
Speaker 6: a lot of dangerous things could happen to my mom
Speaker 6: and I. My younger siblings haven't been able to see
Speaker 6: their mom in more than a month. They're very young
Speaker 6: and you need both of your parents when you're growing up.
Speaker 6: Since I got to the center, all you will feel
Speaker 6: is sadness and mostly depression. When people have their court,
Speaker 6: the longest they will last is fifteen minutes. Our rights
Speaker 6: are not being provided. A rest are happening when people
Speaker 6: don't even have any type of arrest order. A rest
Speaker 6: are happening illegally. It's sad to hear that people's cads
Speaker 6: are being denied and are getting sent back to their
Speaker 6: country places where they're escaping from and are looking for
Speaker 6: protection and want to feel safe. Not a lot of
Speaker 6: people know what is happening in the centers where immigrants
Speaker 6: are placed that I haven't been getting any school time
Speaker 6: either or the other kids in here. Every single person
Speaker 6: in here had their jobs, they have their lives. They
Speaker 6: are any danger for this country. I've been in this
Speaker 6: country for almost seven years, and in those seven years,
Speaker 6: my mom and I found a home and made a
Speaker 6: bigger family. I have never been separated from my siblings,
Speaker 6: and it's honestly sad because they're little and they knew
Speaker 6: their mom and their sister. Yeah, they're with their dad,
Speaker 6: but it's still different for them and my mom and I.
Speaker 6: Since the day my mom and I got detained in Manhattan,
Speaker 6: New York, my life was instantly paused. From my knowledge,
Speaker 6: you can't be on the custody for more than fifteen
Speaker 6: or twenty days. Well, here in daily Immigration Processing center,
Speaker 6: people have been in this place for seven five months.
Speaker 6: For the two months, it's not fair that the ice
Speaker 6: officers are not following the laws. All kids are being
Speaker 6: damaged mentally. They witness how their parents and other people
Speaker 6: are being treated. They don't have schools or doctors. All
Speaker 6: they have are nurses. If you need medical attention, the
Speaker 6: longest you have to wait is three hours, But to
Speaker 6: get any medicine pilled or anything, it takes a while.
Speaker 6: There are various viruses in here. People are always sick.
Speaker 6: Serious situations happen and the officers can't take them serious enough.
Speaker 6: There are no consequences. They don't even care.
Speaker 5: Jesus for those of us who are out there thinking,
Speaker 5: you know this, you know, why does this matter? And
Speaker 5: why does it matter to me? You certainly know, at
Speaker 5: least ought to know that if they could do, if
Speaker 5: you could, if we can witness this for any group
Speaker 5: of people in this country. It's proven, it's been shown
Speaker 5: that those harms can and likely will be visited upon
Speaker 5: us right this. This country does have a history of internment.
Speaker 5: It's done it before, it is doing it again. We
Speaker 5: also have a history of enslavement and discrimination and racism and.
Speaker 3: So much more.
Speaker 5: More importantly, I think the democracies like the United States
Speaker 5: of America, which you used to stand as a beacon,
Speaker 5: has laws asylum laws included, which make way for these
Speaker 5: kinds of people to make their way to the country
Speaker 5: and to be able to establish a life that doesn't
Speaker 5: take anything from us, but does extend the opportunity for them.
Speaker 5: And that's all being snuffed out right before our eyes.
Speaker 5: So I hope folks will check out the article pro
Speaker 5: Publica and thank you from us here at Native Lampid
Speaker 5: to the folks at Pro Publica for the really incredible
Speaker 5: work that you all do on this subject and so
Speaker 5: many others. Native Lampid is a production of iHeartRadio in
Speaker 5: partnership with Reisent Choice media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 5: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 5: listen to your favorite shows.