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Speaker 1: Dear, let you know USA listener.

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Speaker 2: the episode description and after you do that, then click play.

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Speaker 1: Let's go to the.

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Speaker 3: Show, Futuro Investigates Investia.

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Speaker 4: It's just past eight am on a rainy Saturday morning

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Speaker 4: in late August. We're at the back of a large

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Speaker 4: white house with dark green shutters, bordered by a manicured

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Speaker 4: yard with flowers. I'm with reporter Shannon Heffernan of the

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Speaker 4: Marshall Project, the nonprofit news organization covering the US criminal

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Speaker 4: justice system. I'll be reporting with her for the next

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Speaker 4: two days here in southwest Georgia. Yeah, a woman with

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Speaker 4: long grayish white hair named Marilyn opens the door for us.

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Speaker 4: We walked directly into an airy kitchen where she and

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Speaker 4: four other women are huddling around a kitchen island. Once

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Speaker 4: introductions are made, they get right back to business. The

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Speaker 4: smell of brewing coffee permeates the air.

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Speaker 5: I had a dream last night that I pulled out

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Speaker 5: my idea and it was like a cut in half

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Speaker 5: and everything.

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Speaker 6: That's my first time.

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Speaker 4: So that's Katie, a sandy blonde with a soft laugh.

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Speaker 4: Another woman, her name is Amy cuts.

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Speaker 7: In no I had check like forty times.

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Speaker 8: I was like, I know it's gone, Niety's gone.

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Speaker 6: I never move it, but it's gone.

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Speaker 4: It's clear that this kind of oddly specific anxiety dream

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Speaker 4: is shared amongst these women. That's because these five people

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Speaker 4: standing around the kitchen today are all volunteers in this home.

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Speaker 4: And this is not a regular house. It's a hospitality

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Speaker 4: house called Refugio or the refuge in Spanish. The home

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Speaker 4: is open on weekends year round. It provides a free

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Speaker 4: place to eat, rest and sleep for families who travel

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Speaker 4: long hours to visit loved ones at a nearby immigration

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Speaker 4: detention center nestle deep within this rural part of the state.

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Speaker 4: And as we soon learn, the dreams of lost or

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Speaker 4: cut ideas are really not so random. They're getting ready

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Speaker 4: to get inside the Stewart Immigration Detention Center to visit

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Speaker 4: with people in nice custody.

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Speaker 8: And you've been like put in this place where nobody

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Speaker 8: can see you, and it's just nice. Somebody just recognizes

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Speaker 8: you as like a human.

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Speaker 4: That's Amy again.

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Speaker 8: And I don't know our country has been dehumanizing all

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Speaker 8: these people and just to hear their story or it

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Speaker 8: feel like I see you.

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Speaker 4: Just two miles away from Refuchio, down narrow roads, surrounded

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Speaker 4: by a forest of green sits one of the largest

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Speaker 4: immigration detention centers in the country. On average, it houses

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Speaker 4: around two thousand people in custody, more people than it's

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Speaker 4: built to accommodate. Despite its massive size, it's a detention

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Speaker 4: center that unless you're from the South, you're probably less

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Speaker 4: likely to have heard about the way you may have

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Speaker 4: heard of others on the news. Especially lately, anti ICE protests.

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Speaker 9: LA's Metropolitan Detention Center have become a flashpoint.

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Speaker 1: And we're following some breaking news.

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Speaker 9: Protesters are gathering outside of Chicago Detention Center, where hundreds

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Speaker 9: of migrants are being held.

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Speaker 4: Protesters gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, tonight angered by the

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Speaker 4: Trump Administration's decision to deploy federal immigration agents to their city.

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Speaker 4: There are fewer demonstrations out here or clashes between protesters

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Speaker 4: and ICE. There is simply a fading rural town in

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Speaker 4: southwest Georgia. There are no grocery stores, no place for

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Speaker 4: visitors to stay the night, and less than one thousand

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Speaker 4: residents in the whole town. That's one of the reasons

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Speaker 4: that the volunteers are so eager to get inside, to

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Speaker 4: keep an eye on what's happening with detainees inside Steward,

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Speaker 4: and to share a bit of human warmth.

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Speaker 10: All right, thanks agiv you guys.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, The volunteers shuffle out of the house. It's

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Speaker 4: eight point fifteen now and visitations have already started.

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Speaker 11: I don't need to have a might.

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Speaker 12: Just her advice.

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Speaker 4: They run out the back door, down a long wooden ramp,

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Speaker 4: past the colossal pear tree, overflowing with ripe fruit, down

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Speaker 4: to their cars parked in a gravel driveway.

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Speaker 7: All right, we'll see you guys when you get back.

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Speaker 4: We're going to be spending the next forty eight hours

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Speaker 4: inside and refugio with the families that pass through here

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Speaker 4: and the volunteers that run this hospitality house, to learn

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Speaker 4: how this place is handling and adapting to the onslaught

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Speaker 4: of immigration arrests in the second Trump term, and to

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Speaker 4: hear directly from the families of the people that have

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Speaker 4: gotten swept up in the raids.

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Speaker 1: Media.

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Speaker 2: It's Latino USA. I'm Maria no Josa, and today we

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Speaker 2: travel to South Georgia. We're going to spend.

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Speaker 1: Forty eight hours at El Refujio.

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Speaker 2: It's a one of a kind hospitality house that has

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Speaker 2: been created in order to ease the burden for people

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Speaker 2: who are visiting loved ones at one of the country's

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Speaker 2: largest immigration detention centers. We're going to meet families whose

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Speaker 2: lives have been turned upside down by ICE and also

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Speaker 2: meet the volunteers that are helping them navigate the system.

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Speaker 2: We also learn about the different ways that ramped up

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Speaker 2: ICE enforcement is leading more people than ever into places

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Speaker 2: like the Stuart Detention Center in Georgia. Today's episode is

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Speaker 2: a collaboration between Latino USA, Futuro Investigates and the Marshall Project.

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Speaker 2: Senior produce Sir Julieta Martinelli, who started us off, traveled

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Speaker 2: to Stuart County, Georgia with reporter Shannon Heffernan in order

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Speaker 2: to produce this story. I'm gonna hand the mike to

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Speaker 2: Julieta now and justa heads up, dear listener, this story

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Speaker 2: contains some mentions of suicide, so take care while listening.

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Speaker 6: Grapes and the bread.

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Speaker 4: Back inside, things are still quiet. Marilyn, the woman who

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Speaker 4: opened the door for us, has stayed behind to prepare

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Speaker 4: for the day's visitors. Marylyn is the house coordinator this weekend.

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Speaker 9: Here is some peach bread that I brought for our

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Speaker 9: breakfast and then Halo's.

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Speaker 4: Marylyn takes note of the food and the fridge, and

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Speaker 4: then she goes through the pantry. She makes plans for breakfast, lunch,

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Speaker 4: and dinner. As she opens cabinets, I noticed one item

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Speaker 4: that is in large supply.

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Speaker 12: But yeah, they got it.

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Speaker 4: It's almost comical, you know.

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Speaker 9: People are so kind and they donate what they imagine

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Speaker 9: could be useful.

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Speaker 4: While Stuart Detention Center doesn't publish their demographics, reports show

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Speaker 4: that the majority of detainees are Latinos. Their presence has

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Speaker 4: even shifted the demographics of this rural area. A twenty

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Speaker 4: sixteen analysis of census data by Pew Research Center claimed

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Speaker 4: that Stuart County so the largest growth in Latino population

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Speaker 4: in America and noted that the detention center was likely

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Speaker 4: the reason. And Latinos, well, a lot of us do

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Speaker 4: really love beans.

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Speaker 9: So in this cabinet, we have lots of different teas

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Speaker 9: we have some honey, some coffee, breakfast cereals.

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Speaker 4: While they accept non perishable donations, these volunteers do still

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Speaker 4: need to shop for fresh food every weekend. And because

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Speaker 4: there are no grocery stores in Lumpkin, Maryland, and the

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Speaker 4: volunteers lug groceries down from Atlanta, where they live several

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Speaker 4: hours north. It's just become part of the routine.

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Speaker 9: The house has been operated for fifteen years wow, and

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Speaker 9: then prior to that, there were group visitations that were

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Speaker 9: organized a few times a year, so I did some

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Speaker 9: of those.

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Speaker 4: Stewart was first opened in two thousand and six by Corcivic,

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Speaker 4: then known as Corrections Corporation of America. Maryland said after

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Speaker 4: it opened, she and other volunteers from an advocacy group

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Speaker 4: started coming down to visit detainees. This was around the

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Speaker 4: time that ice enforcement really ramped up in the state.

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Speaker 4: By twenty eleven, Stuart was considered the largest and the

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Speaker 4: busiest immigration detention center in the nation. The following year,

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Speaker 4: Stuart was sued by the ACOU of Georgia in a

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Speaker 4: filing that said Stuart had proven quote incapable of protecting

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Speaker 4: the basic human rights of immigrants under its care. The

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Speaker 4: report cited a number of claims relating to abuse, in

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Speaker 4: humane conditions, and failure to meet medical and legal standards.

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Speaker 4: And then there was the location. Maryland says driving down

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Speaker 4: a Lumpkin for visitations made the advocates realize just how

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Speaker 4: challenging this detention center's geographic isolation was for the families

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Speaker 4: that were visiting.

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Speaker 9: So that was really the impetus for starting this work,

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Speaker 9: knowing that by giving people a place to stay over

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Speaker 9: Saturday night, we could really serve people's needs.

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Speaker 4: That's why, around fifteen years ago, the first hospitality house

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Speaker 4: in Lumpkin was opened. It was originally established by an

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Speaker 4: Immigrants Right nonprofit called Alderna. Maryland was a part of it.

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Speaker 4: By twenty twelve, Refujio became its own nonprofit and a

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Speaker 4: group of founding members, including Maryland, took over managing the house.

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Speaker 4: They were originally at a smaller house. Over the following years,

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Speaker 4: visitors at Refujio continued to grow. In twenty eighteen, they

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Speaker 4: moved over to this larger house where we are today.

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Speaker 4: And crazy story, but this bigger, nicer place was actually

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Speaker 4: donated by comedian Samantha b It was part of her

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Speaker 4: TBS show's holiday special, which they called Christmas on Ice.

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Speaker 4: The show heavily criticized the first Trump administration's immigration policies

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Speaker 4: and highlighted the work of Refujo. Marilyn finishes in the

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Speaker 4: kitchen and walks us over to the living room slash

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Speaker 4: waiting area. She adjusts the pillows on a comfortable couch.

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Speaker 4: I see art on the walls, books and board games

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Speaker 4: on the shelves. She talks as she continues her.

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Speaker 9: Routine every weekend that I come down here. I play

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Speaker 9: out different scenarios in my mind about what could possibly happen.

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Speaker 7: Has it felt like that's gotten more intense as of

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Speaker 7: LA Sure.

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Speaker 4: That's martial project reporter Shannon Sure. As we talk, Marilyn

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Speaker 4: guides is over to a large map on a wall.

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Speaker 6: Here's our map. We've got people to indicate where they're from.

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Speaker 7: So oh wow, yeah, so you can see look at

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Speaker 7: this and everywhere.

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Speaker 9: So this is both volunteers and guests who come to

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Speaker 9: the house.

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Speaker 4: Can you describe the concentration of the pins?

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Speaker 9: A whole lot of pins in the Southeast United States,

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Speaker 9: in Mexico and through Central America, quite a few Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador,

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Speaker 9: a smattering of pens across Africa, and a few across Europe,

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Speaker 9: several in Asia, a couple in Pakistan and India, one, two, three,

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Speaker 9: four in Iran, some from Israel, Palestine, several from Australia.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is seeing it like this, it's really

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Speaker 4: kind of mind blowing. People from all over the world

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Speaker 4: have passed through this house because people from all over

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Speaker 4: the world have been sent down here into ICE attention.

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Speaker 4: In less than a year, the Trump administration has increased

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Speaker 4: the number of people detained in ICE facilities by almost

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Speaker 4: fifty percent. In fact, the first week of November broke

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Speaker 4: a record with more than sixty six thousand people in

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Speaker 4: ICE custody nationwide, more than any any time in American

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Speaker 4: history ever. And really that's why we're here. As more

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Speaker 4: and more people get taken into ICE custody and moved

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Speaker 4: into massive detention centers isolated in rural areas like Stuart,

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Speaker 4: it becomes even harder to know what people are going through.

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Speaker 4: Inside a hospitality house like this serves another important role

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Speaker 4: a commonplace for family members of detained individuals to gather

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Speaker 4: and share information. It's hard to know how many people

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Speaker 4: to expect this weekend Maryland says that you never really

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Speaker 4: quite know, just in case, though they've prepared all the rooms.

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Speaker 4: We walk through a dining room with one of the

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Speaker 4: largest tables I've ever seen. Maryland says that most people

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Speaker 4: congregate here throughout the day. There are several bedrooms with

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Speaker 4: multiple beds along two floors. Everywhere I look there's colorful

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Speaker 4: art with encouraging messages. Some of it is even made inside,

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Speaker 4: stored by people in custody. Marylyn tells us it's a lively,

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Speaker 4: happy place.

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Speaker 6: Oh.

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Speaker 4: Our tour is cut short around nine am. The first visitors.

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Speaker 6: Saying are they here two weeks? So?

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Speaker 4: Her name is Brooke, She's visiting her husbands long so

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Speaker 4: you know, familiar.

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Speaker 6: I've tried to see more. We could take up three hours. Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: The women stop by the prison first. It's how the

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Speaker 4: routine goes. We learn the visitation hours are split based

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Speaker 4: on gender. Who goes first depends on the day. Today Saturday,

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Speaker 4: it was men in the afternoon from two to eight pm.

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Speaker 4: But as families have learned the hard way, you can't

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Speaker 4: just show up on time. And I know, like the

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Speaker 4: time gets full fast, so that we had to come

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Speaker 4: here early to sign on the list. To visit in

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Speaker 4: the afternoon, so we're part of Group one. Visits at

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Speaker 4: Stuart happen behind a thick plexiglass. People like Brooke will

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Speaker 4: travel for hours just to talk to their loved ones

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Speaker 4: through a phone. Families can't hug or even hold hands,

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Speaker 4: and even though the government claims that the tension centers

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Speaker 4: are not prisons, it all looks and feels the same.

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Speaker 4: Now that she's safely on the list and there's a

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Speaker 4: few hours to kill broken, her family can finally rest.

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Speaker 4: They thank the volunteers and make their way to one

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Speaker 4: of the bedrooms.

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Speaker 6: Make yourselves at home, Okay, I'd like stuff you needed, the.

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Speaker 12: Usual in Mohana.

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Speaker 4: Marilyn says that a lot of what they end up

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Speaker 4: doing is filling in new visitors with these kinds of

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Speaker 4: nuances around visitation. For example, nowhere on the DHS website

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Speaker 4: doesn't inform visitors that they need to arrive hours early

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Speaker 4: to register for visitation, and while there are address code

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Speaker 4: guidelines posted online, the guards will sometimes DENI entry based

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Speaker 4: on arbitrary rules like ripped pants.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, we meet some of the

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Speaker 2: families passing by a refujio on their way to the

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Speaker 2: Stuart Immigration Detention Center.

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Speaker 5: You really never think this is going to happen to you,

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Speaker 5: and you never think it's gonna hate you like this.

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Speaker 2: And we learn how these detentions have changed their lives.

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Speaker 2: Stay with us, Yes, hey, we're back. Before the break,

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Speaker 2: we learned about El Refujio. It's a hospitality hose for

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Speaker 2: families of people detained at the Stuart Immigration Detention Center.

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Speaker 2: Now we're going to meet more of the families. Senior

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Speaker 2: producer Julia Martinelli brings us this story today, so let's

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Speaker 2: get back to it.

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Speaker 4: Not being allowed inside, not having the right clothes, or

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Speaker 4: I d those are the kinds of anxieties that also

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Speaker 4: plagued Maria during her first visit. It's nearly noon when

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Speaker 4: I meet her, after she walks in with her mom

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Speaker 4: and her toddler, Kailani. Kailani attempts to sign the number

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Speaker 4: two with her fingers. She has her hair and pigtails

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Speaker 4: and wears these bright purple sunglasses. Maria has been coming

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Speaker 4: down a store for several weeks now, but today it's

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Speaker 4: the first time that she's visiting El Refujia.

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Speaker 5: Today, I'm here to come and visit my fiance. He

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Speaker 5: has been in Stuart Detention Center. Since July twentieth and

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Speaker 5: July twentieth, a whole world changed. He was going to work. Sorry,

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Speaker 5: I get emotional. For two years, I was to stay

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Speaker 5: at home home watching our daughter. He was the provider

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Speaker 5: for our family. Not just like our family, his mom

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Speaker 5: and dad in Mexico.

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Speaker 4: Two. It's now been nearly six weeks since our fiance

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Speaker 4: Louis was detained.

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Speaker 5: He was going to work. It was eight o'clock and

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Speaker 5: he calls me at eight thirty. He's like, hey, I

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Speaker 5: was picked up by ice. I was just putting her

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Speaker 5: back to sleep and I was like, what do you mean.

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Speaker 5: I thought it was a joke when he first said it.

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Speaker 5: I was like, that's not funny at all, and he

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Speaker 5: was like, no, I'm not playing. I was like, what

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Speaker 5: do you mean? I want to go check outside, but

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Speaker 5: by that time he was already gone. He's like, hey,

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Speaker 5: I know it's a lot, just listen. He's like, the officer,

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Speaker 5: it was nice enough to let me know that he

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Speaker 5: was arrested.

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Speaker 4: Maria says that they snatched them up somewhere between his

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Speaker 4: front door and his car. She says they showed him

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Speaker 4: a photo, but he never saw a warrant or any

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Speaker 4: documents to explain why they were picking him up. It

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Speaker 4: didn't matter. Technically. Under the law, Ice should arrive with

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Speaker 4: judicial warrants to pick up the people that they're there

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Speaker 4: to detain, especially if they want to enter a business

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Speaker 4: or a residence. But they can also legally detain people

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Speaker 4: with quote reasonable suspicion in public places, according to DHS,

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Speaker 4: and the Supreme Court recently validated this, basically giving Ice

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Speaker 4: carte blanche to racially profile people in public Maria tells

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Speaker 4: me that Louis was simply put in a car and

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Speaker 4: taken away, just like that.

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Speaker 5: It's really hard with the new laws ima us resident.

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Speaker 4: We just got engaged last year in August.

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Speaker 5: We're gonna get married in September. That was her plan.

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Speaker 4: We've been together for twelve years. We're gonna get married

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Speaker 4: in a month.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, but the September we were gonna get married. You

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Speaker 5: really never think this is gonna happen to you. You

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Speaker 5: just hear on the news.

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Speaker 12: You hear like, oh blah blah blah.

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Speaker 5: And you never think it's gonna hate you like this.

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Speaker 4: All those preparations over the last year suddenly did it matter.

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Speaker 4: The emotional impact of Lisa's arrest was instant. The family

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Speaker 4: was distraught. Then came the next challenge.

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Speaker 5: The money, the financial burden of this. Like I said,

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Speaker 5: I was a stay at home mom, not trying to

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Speaker 5: figure out who. Thank god we have savings, but again

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Speaker 5: that only takes you so long, so you really have

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Speaker 5: to like, think, think, think.

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Speaker 4: Maria looks at Kailani. She's running around in the waiting area,

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Speaker 4: eating a banana that she picked out in the kitchen.

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Speaker 5: It's been emotional for her because her life has changed

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Speaker 5: in less than a month with me twenty four hours.

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Speaker 5: She's really smart, but she does have speech delay, so

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Speaker 5: we were really focusing on her speech delay, trying to

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Speaker 5: get her tea like all of that. So right now

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Speaker 5: we have stopped the therapy because I need to figure

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Speaker 5: out my schedule. So now we're just accommodating to their

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Speaker 5: new normal.

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Speaker 4: The new normal means three hour drives to Steward on

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Speaker 4: the weekends. Maria says that they've been waiting for a

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Speaker 4: bond hearing for over a month. She fears that Louise

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Speaker 4: will be pushed into a fast tracked deportation. That sense

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Speaker 4: of overwhelm, of chaos, it's something that we hear about

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Speaker 4: from nearly every person on this day. As the hours pass,

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Speaker 4: people shuffle in and out of Refujio. Later in the afternoon,

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Speaker 4: around two PM, as the second round of visitations began

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Speaker 4: at store, the line of people shuffling in and out

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Speaker 4: of Refujio slows down. Marylyn is back in the.

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Speaker 7: Kitchen, fish fruit snacks, Manie muffins, muffins.

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Speaker 9: We got some.

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Speaker 12: New cha grain bars.

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Speaker 9: There's a I thought they're a devlental soup in there

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Speaker 9: that is vegan, so I'm going to pull that out Later.

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Speaker 4: Two women walk through the door. They're both wearing jeans

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Speaker 4: and white tops. A blonde and a brunette chatting. They

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Speaker 4: clearly came here together. After they get settled in, I

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Speaker 4: approach the women as they talk quietly at the dining

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Speaker 4: room table, drinking coffee. They tell me they're grateful to

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Speaker 4: be navigating the complexity of immigration, the tension together, and

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Speaker 4: so are their husbands. See Alma the brunette, and Anna,

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Speaker 4: the blonde are friends, well, they are now. Their husbands

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Speaker 4: were co workers. They're both painters. Now they're locked up

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Speaker 4: together at Stewart Eleon camp in the Alma says they

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Speaker 4: were on their way to work. A few weeks ago,

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Speaker 4: a third co worker was driving. They were just a

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Speaker 4: couple miles away from their job site in a wealthy

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Speaker 4: suburb in Atlanta. The men stopped at a gas station,

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Speaker 4: just as they did every other day. They pumped gas,

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Speaker 4: grabbed coffee, and made their way back to their work van.

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Speaker 4: They sparted a cop watching them the minute they pulled

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Speaker 4: out police lights.

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Speaker 10: Albertos steporsua pariencia. The Espanos.

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Speaker 4: Ceo all my things that they were racially profiled. Both

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Speaker 4: women say that, according to their husbands, the cops never

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Speaker 4: told them why he pulled them over. Inas Instead, she says,

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Speaker 4: the cop asked if they were legal. It was an

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Speaker 4: odd question, according to Alma, because she says that the

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Speaker 4: driver had provided a driver's license.

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Speaker 12: As implemente mr LISTA. Last Persona says he lose the.

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Speaker 4: Atlanta Alma says that the officers stepped back and made

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Speaker 4: a phone call. Then, she says, the men saw a

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Speaker 4: car parked across the street at a fire station pull

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Speaker 4: around behind them.

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Speaker 12: Comenta case is as personas s Tavan and on.

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Speaker 4: They say the officer greeted the mass men who exited

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Speaker 4: the unmarked car.

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Speaker 12: Nono the policia.

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Speaker 4: There were no decals, badges, or identification, just men in

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Speaker 4: a car. This is something that we've seen often this

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Speaker 4: year after Trump took office, and something that keeps popping

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Speaker 4: up in Latino, USA is reporting no matter what state

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Speaker 4: we're in, I says, and unmarked vehicles. They show up

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Speaker 4: out of nowhere, snatch people up without paperwork or explanation

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Speaker 4: and take them into custody. It all happens so quickly.

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Speaker 10: Particular is the e Yallosinko Mimuto's q Minuto's YEO al

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Speaker 10: Departamento Policy Directamente ale Partamento de Ice.

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Speaker 4: Alma says it took less than five minutes between being

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Speaker 4: pulled over to the moment that they were taken by ICE.

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Speaker 4: They were sent directly to the processing facility in Atlanta,

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Speaker 4: then eventually here. Alma leads the storytelling Anna, sitting next

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Speaker 4: to me at the table, can't stop wiping her tears.

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Speaker 4: At some point, someone places a container of Kleenex in

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Speaker 4: front of her. The balld up tissues pile around us

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Speaker 4: on the table, but Alma is angry. She wonders was

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Speaker 4: the cop unofficially working with ICE? Why not take them

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Speaker 4: into the local jail if they did something wrong. He

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Speaker 4: was a cop, so why would he allow them to

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Speaker 4: be taken by unidentified men. They're valid questions. While in Georgia,

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Speaker 4: a new state law requires local sheriff's departments to check

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Speaker 4: the legal status of people taken into custody. There are

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Speaker 4: rules and policies to follow. The person must be charged

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Speaker 4: with something and processed at the local jail before being

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Speaker 4: placed on an icehold.

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Speaker 10: Seas pass a momento dios documentos.

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Speaker 4: As almas as her husband should have never been taken

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Speaker 4: in He has an open petition for adjustment of status

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Speaker 4: during the process of getting his green card, She says,

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Speaker 4: the lawyer that she hired told her that a year

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Speaker 4: ago that would have meant a high likelihood of his release,

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Speaker 4: at least on bond. But so far they've gotten nowhere,

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Speaker 4: and it's not surprising given the growing reports of ice

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Speaker 4: picking up people at their own immigration appointments. The place

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Speaker 4: where you have to show up when you're doing things

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Speaker 4: the quote unquote right way.

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Speaker 12: You're not nadi lo yoendox.

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Speaker 4: The hardest part, Alma says, is not knowing what's going

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Speaker 4: to happen. Will they be able to get their partners

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Speaker 4: out Will they get deported? Will the women have to

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Speaker 4: abandon everything they've built here and return to Mexico? Do

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Speaker 4: they want to? Will they have to do?

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Speaker 6: Toya?

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Speaker 12: Must you there into.

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Speaker 4: Alma and Anna are both looking to rent out rooms

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Speaker 4: and their homes. Alma says she fears for her safety,

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Speaker 4: so she's trying to hold out to find a female tenant.

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Speaker 4: After our chat, Alma and Anna head off to Stewart

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Speaker 4: to visit their husbands. But first they go to the bathroom.

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Speaker 4: They touch up their hair, they smile and put on

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Speaker 4: a facade that they're okay, that they're strong. Volunteers keep

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Speaker 4: a tally of the people passing through. They used to

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Speaker 4: keep a list. Families who walked in would put their

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Speaker 4: loved ones names down and share contact information. Volunteers would

439
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 4: follow up on their cases, make visits, and try to

440
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,480
Speaker 4: stay informed. It's how they could get a sense of

441
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 4: how processes were changing, a general idea of how long

442
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 4: it took to get a bond, hearing, to get transferred, released,

443
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 4: or even deported. But now that's too risky. After fifteen

444
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 4: years here, volunteers say that for the first time they

445
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 4: fear that ICE will show up at a Refujio. So

446
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 4: since Trump took office, they just stop keeping track. They

447
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 4: also locked their doors now, something that Marilyn says feels

448
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 4: wrong but necessary.

449
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 7: I see that you have your caution signs up here.

450
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 4: That's reporter Shannon again.

451
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 7: Have you ever had anybody actually come to the door

452
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 7: looking for people?

453
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:43,640
Speaker 6: Yeah?

454
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's something that we're prepared for.

455
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 4: The volunteers have even been recently trained and even ran

456
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,239
Speaker 4: practice drills on what to do if I shows up.

457
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 4: Run to the door, make sure it's locked, ask for

458
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 4: a warrant, make sure it's judicial warrant, don't open the door,

459
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 4: don't say anything, be quiet.

460
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 9: And please start recording immediately. Yeah, okay, yeah, that's just

461
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 9: saying that somebody is walking past.

462
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 7: Got it?

463
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 4: As if on cue a chime plays over a speaker

464
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 4: emotion sensor. At this point, my reporting partner Shannon asks.

465
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 7: Have you trying to be pretty careful about security and

466
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 7: stuff like that?

467
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 12: You know, balancing.

468
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 9: Hospitality and safety is a really, really difficult dance. Our

469
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 9: home is open to anybody who comes to us asking

470
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 9: for hospitality. At the same time, we have to make

471
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:51,280
Speaker 9: sure that there is a clear boundary there between what's

472
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 9: public space and what's private space, and that we don't

473
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 9: allow anyone into this space who has all intentions, and

474
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 9: that that includes more than justize right.

475
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 4: Marilyn says she follows the news closely, so it's not

476
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,120
Speaker 4: really surprising to hear of this fear. After all, there

477
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 4: has been a rise in reports of attacks on immigrants

478
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 4: and even people masquerading as ice agents to cast them harm.

479
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 9: It could include anybody who feels like they've been empowered

480
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 9: to take things into their own hands, into the abusive

481
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,200
Speaker 9: to the people that we serve, or abusive to us

482
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 9: for that matter.

483
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 4: While the relationship between the detention center and the hospitality

484
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 4: house has always been relatively peaceful, the climate in the

485
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 4: country and the attitude towards immigrants has undoubtedly changed.

486
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 9: We've not had that issue at all, but of course

487
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 9: it's the top of mind, top of mind.

488
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 2: Coming up on letting the volunteers who go into the

489
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 2: Stuart Detention Center come back with stories about the conditions inside,

490
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 2: and we speak to more families about the toll the

491
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 2: uncertainty of vice attention is taking on all of them.

492
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 1: Stay with us, Yes, hey, we're back now.

493
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 2: We continue our forty eight hours inside El Refugio and

494
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 2: we hear from returning volunteers about the conditions inside. Stuart

495
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 2: Senior producer Julia Tabardinelli picks up the story from here.

496
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 6: We met someone.

497
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 4: It's dinner time now Refujo. After all families have left, volunteers,

498
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 4: Marilyn Amy McKenzie and two katies finally sit down over

499
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 4: bowls of homemade lentil soup. They share details of their day.

500
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 4: The house is empty tonight, and they share what they

501
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 4: hear about conditions inside. They compare stories and take mental

502
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 4: notes things like issues accessing commissary and food.

503
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 9: And there seems to be a pretty significant delay between

504
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 9: when you order something then when you get it.

505
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,240
Speaker 4: Or the failure to provide quality translators, which are integral

506
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:25,919
Speaker 4: to a person's immigration case.

507
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 9: I imgrestion a turning. I know he's had issues with.

508
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:30,839
Speaker 1: Court interpretation.

509
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 9: I remember one case he was talking about that he

510
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 9: speaks enough Arabic to know if somebody is interpreting well or.

511
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 4: Not, interpreters who don't speak the language well, and other

512
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:49,800
Speaker 4: challenges of communication, like with tablets for video visitations. For

513
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,800
Speaker 4: families without papers or those who are not able to

514
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 4: travel here, this is the only other way to see

515
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:56,479
Speaker 4: their loved ones.

516
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,919
Speaker 8: The lady is what to last time said, there's three

517
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 8: tablets for her her POONI are inner thing, yeah she

518
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:05,800
Speaker 8: At that time, she said, there were sixty two people

519
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 8: in home.

520
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 4: Nearly impossible to get a chance that video visits. That's

521
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 4: why these in person visits are so important and necessary

522
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 4: to families and also to the volunteers who step in

523
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:24,360
Speaker 4: for those who can't visit. It's not easy seeing people

524
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 4: in their darkest hours, hearing their stories, wanting to help,

525
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,879
Speaker 4: but really only being able to listen. After all, each

526
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 4: of the volunteers tells us that they ended up here

527
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 4: because they were fed up with seeing what they considered

528
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 4: cruelty on the news. They wanted to feel useful, to

529
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 4: do something.

530
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 9: There was a man here, a man who took his

531
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,320
Speaker 9: own life at Stuart, Oh God. And I was the

532
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 9: house coordinator that weekend.

533
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 4: That's Marilyn again.

534
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 9: We had been told this is a priority visit to

535
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 9: have happened. So I was going to go visit him

536
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,880
Speaker 9: on Saturday. But then his mom came by the house

537
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 9: and she was coming from Stuart and she said, please,

538
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 9: please please, can someone check on my son tomorrow? And

539
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,319
Speaker 9: I said, yes, I will go check on your son,

540
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 9: and he was in segregation at that point.

541
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 4: Segregation refers to a person placed in a protected unit.

542
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 4: You might also have heard it called solitary confinement.

543
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 9: So I went over really early to try to visit.

544
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,800
Speaker 4: Him, but Marilyn says that she was told that she

545
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 4: couldn't see him.

546
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:41,800
Speaker 9: I went home and then Monday morning I got a

547
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 9: phone call that he had taken his own life.

548
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,719
Speaker 1: It was hard. It was hard because I.

549
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,879
Speaker 9: I mean, it's not like I felt like my visit

550
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 9: could have changed anything, but you know, it felt it

551
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 9: felt personal in a way.

552
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,880
Speaker 4: The other volunteers their heads. It's a sentiment they seem

553
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 4: to share.

554
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 7: His mom knew, his mom knew he needed something.

555
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,879
Speaker 4: Across the nation, there have been twenty deaths in ice

556
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 4: custody just this year. In fact, by October this was

557
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 4: already considered the deadliest year for people in ice custody

558
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 4: in two decades. These are the kinds of things that

559
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 4: these volunteers have to grapple with. But Amy, one of

560
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,960
Speaker 4: the volunteers, says that while it's emotionally difficult work, it's

561
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 4: helped her feel like at least she's doing something people.

562
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:52,279
Speaker 8: Really are like desperate for, like tangible ways to help

563
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 8: and it's so confusing right now, like what's actually.

564
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,840
Speaker 4: Helpful for those who have been here longer? Though, like

565
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 4: one of the katies who is also a coordinator, the

566
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:02,879
Speaker 4: work can take a toll.

567
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 13: So I haven't been here in six months probably it's

568
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 13: been a while, and I was really beating myself up

569
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 13: about it and just kind of like, do I want

570
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:12,839
Speaker 13: to come back out?

571
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:14,360
Speaker 9: Can I cope with?

572
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:14,799
Speaker 4: What's?

573
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 3: Like?

574
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:19,320
Speaker 13: I don't know that I'm strong enough to do this work, honestly,

575
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 13: Like I just had this big moment of doubt and

576
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:24,280
Speaker 13: I was like in this kind of paralyzed place.

577
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,480
Speaker 4: Recently, she says she's been doubting if she's really even

578
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,320
Speaker 4: helpful because her Spanish is not that great and she

579
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 4: had a situation where she was unable to communicate with

580
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 4: the person. It made her feel helpless, like she was

581
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:40,920
Speaker 4: letting the person down.

582
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 13: I have to get out of my own head that

583
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 13: I don't have to do it perfectly, Like I don't

584
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 13: have to be the most prepared. I don't have to

585
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,239
Speaker 13: be the most emotionally available stable, you know, I don't

586
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 13: have to have the most languid Like I just have

587
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 13: to show up.

588
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 4: That's really what it's about. Here. It seems every need

589
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 4: can't be fully met. There is chaos, constant changes, people

590
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 4: coming in and out, all playing out within a system

591
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 4: that is much bigger than this place or these people.

592
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 4: But when each of these volunteers say they can do

593
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 4: is continue to show up, to show by action to

594
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 4: immigrant families that they're not alone. The next day, no

595
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 4: one seems to have got much sleep. It was a long,

596
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:46,840
Speaker 4: heavy day. Eight am, breakfast is made, coffee is brewed

597
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 4: by ten eleven known families finishing the first wave of

598
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,360
Speaker 4: visitations are shuffling in to eat rest or now before

599
00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 4: they have to do the long drive home. While a

600
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 4: lot of visitors have been Latinos, we also met families

601
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 4: from Russia, Vietnam, and Gambia passing through the house. On

602
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:11,960
Speaker 4: our final day, we also meet a family, a young

603
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,560
Speaker 4: woman here with her husband and children coming to visit

604
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 4: her father.

605
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 6: I've just had a glass.

606
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 3: Right here.

607
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 6: It was it was a drought, so I had to

608
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:25,240
Speaker 6: have you guys been driving since morning?

609
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, since its light. They have two toddlers in tow.

610
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 6: Your first time to Stewart. Here's sure is.

611
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:37,759
Speaker 7: They got a nice set of toys in there.

612
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 9: Too. I'm sure I will go.

613
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 4: After the kids get settled. Shannon sits down with them

614
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:47,879
Speaker 4: in the front room.

615
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:49,680
Speaker 9: How long has your dad been there?

616
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 6: I'm sure he's going to be termed to see him.

617
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:54,959
Speaker 14: Yeah.

618
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,759
Speaker 4: She still remembers the day she found out that her

619
00:40:57,840 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 4: father was in ice custody.

620
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 6: I just got a call for my dad. He said

621
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,320
Speaker 6: that he was taking the ice.

622
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 7: It's just definitely caused eris because.

623
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:12,879
Speaker 12: He wasn't He's not a criminal, he didn't do anything wrong.

624
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:15,879
Speaker 4: Now they're in the process of trying to deport him

625
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 4: to a country that he hasn't been in in forty

626
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 4: three years. He doesn't have any family in there.

627
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 5: Everyone is here.

628
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 7: Have you gotten any word about how your dad's doing

629
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 7: in there?

630
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 4: That's martial Project reporter Shannon again.

631
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 14: We're sending him commissary money and he's eating tuna.

632
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 4: As the conversation continues, it undoubtedly beers towards Trump's policies.

633
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:41,960
Speaker 14: I'm a Republican, and I know that Trump put this

634
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 14: in place and stuff, but and I did vote for him,

635
00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,360
Speaker 14: but I didn't know it wasn't just rap posts and

636
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 14: killers and murders and this and that, like trying to

637
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 14: go capture like it was my.

638
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:54,160
Speaker 4: Dad's not any of that.

639
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 14: When Trump was advocating and stuff and campaigning, I had

640
00:41:59,000 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 14: no idea that.

641
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 7: It was literally about like hate, you know. And you

642
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:10,160
Speaker 7: thought when he was talking about immigrants, he wasn't talking

643
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 7: about your dad.

644
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:14,360
Speaker 14: Well, no, I was thinking about like, you know, literally

645
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,200
Speaker 14: like human traffickers and the criminals like that are hurting

646
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 14: other people.

647
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 4: You know. I don't want to be around that.

648
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:22,920
Speaker 7: I don't want my kids to be around that.

649
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 14: That's what he campaign and that's what he said and stuff. Yeah,

650
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 14: it's very frustrating.

651
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, but this experience has changed a lot for her.

652
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 4: She says her family no longer supports Trot, not.

653
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 12: Just because of.

654
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 14: My dad's situation, but because I do I feel as

655
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,880
Speaker 14: just dividing, like the country and you're just being so

656
00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 14: so hateful, you know, and like we need more love

657
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 14: and like understanding and not this This just causes like

658
00:42:55,160 --> 00:43:00,480
Speaker 14: huge divisions and it hurts families and people.

659
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,840
Speaker 4: It might be difficult to understand how someone can vote

660
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 4: for Trump when their loved ones immigration status is up

661
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 4: in the air, but it helps to look at the

662
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 4: administrations messaging around immigration enforcement. Trump campaigned on this idea

663
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:26,160
Speaker 4: that he would round up criminals and those causing harm

664
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 4: to communities. Instead, as we've seen over the last ten months,

665
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 4: ICE has actually done the opposite. Recent data shows that

666
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,760
Speaker 4: more than seventy percent of people currently in ICE custody

667
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:43,040
Speaker 4: don't have a criminal record, and an analysis by the

668
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 4: Vera Institute of Justice shows that in the first four

669
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,480
Speaker 4: and a half months of the second Trump administration, ICE

670
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:54,520
Speaker 4: booked into the tension nearly one hundred and twenty thousand people.

671
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 4: That's a seventeen percent increase from the same time period

672
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 4: during Trump's first term and a forty six percent increase

673
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:08,279
Speaker 4: from the same time period under President Biden. Families like

674
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,920
Speaker 4: this are having to come to terms with the fact

675
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,480
Speaker 4: that when Trump says criminals, it also means.

676
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:29,239
Speaker 1: Them stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back.

677
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,360
Speaker 4: I sit in the kitchen talking with two of the

678
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,719
Speaker 4: volunteers who speak Russian. They've just returned from visitation.

679
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:42,359
Speaker 9: Recently, there have been a few, like four or five

680
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:47,080
Speaker 9: Russian speaking women who have asked for visits. One Russian

681
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 9: speaker figures out how to contact us, and then she

682
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 9: tells the other Russian speakers.

683
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 14: Or you know.

684
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 4: While most of the people that they visit are Spanish speakers.

685
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 4: There's actually all kinds of which needs.

686
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,680
Speaker 9: We had a whole group of men from Cameroon who

687
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,879
Speaker 9: we were visiting, a couple people from some islands, from

688
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,200
Speaker 9: Latin America, and you know, there's people on our list

689
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:12,280
Speaker 9: now from countries in Africa.

690
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 4: It's one of the challenges and maybe even proof of

691
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 4: the expanding of ICE enforcement into all kinds of communities,

692
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,120
Speaker 4: and it's led people having to make decisions that they

693
00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 4: never thought they would. Like Veronica, I first spot her

694
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:32,360
Speaker 4: playing a card game at the other end of the

695
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 4: dining room table. She's there with two young boys. They're

696
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 4: eating the sandwiches that had been laid out in the

697
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 4: kitchen earlier that day. There's barely any room at the

698
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:47,080
Speaker 4: table at this point. Nearly all eighteen seats are taken

699
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 4: by families eating lunch, drinking coffee, and chatting amongst each other.

700
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 4: I'm over in the living room, sitting on the floor,

701
00:45:55,320 --> 00:46:00,440
Speaker 4: chatting with another family. The couches are also full. From me.

702
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 4: A little girl sleeps under a blanket, her head on

703
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:07,280
Speaker 4: her mom's lap. I make my weight at the table.

704
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:11,799
Speaker 6: I also bought cars with my dad. Do you want

705
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:13,279
Speaker 6: to play with us? Yeah?

706
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 4: Now, for the record, I love O. No, of course

707
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 4: I can't say no.

708
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:33,240
Speaker 6: You're gonna trouble, scared to play with you, or I shouldn't.

709
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 7: Have sun.

710
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:36,720
Speaker 6: Man fiance.

711
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:42,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, Baronica drove down from Asheville, North Carolina.

712
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 15: Six hours of a drive every time back at well

713
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:48,319
Speaker 15: twelve hours in total. They got him in his own

714
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 15: igration appointment, and he doesn't have a criminal record. He

715
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,360
Speaker 15: doesn't have any reason to be detained. Like his visas

716
00:46:57,400 --> 00:47:00,239
Speaker 15: are up to date, his work visas up to day

717
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:04,080
Speaker 15: to twenty thirty. His license is not expirited to twenty

718
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 15: thirty as well, so we were both surprised. I was

719
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:08,840
Speaker 15: really devastated when he told me.

720
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,239
Speaker 4: Like many of the stories we heard this weekend, but

721
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 4: Oniica says that they were following the law. Her fiance

722
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 4: was going to his immigration check ins, and they were

723
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,680
Speaker 4: planning to get married. She had never considered that this

724
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 4: could happen. I started screaming, I started crying.

725
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:27,239
Speaker 1: I wanted to.

726
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,360
Speaker 15: Fill up everything with rage, but I no, he needed

727
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 15: me as much as I need a ham so I

728
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:33,359
Speaker 15: just calmed down.

729
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,440
Speaker 4: I watched Veronica as we play the card game. She

730
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:41,719
Speaker 4: giggles and laughs and seems pointedly different from others in

731
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:46,080
Speaker 4: the house. She's optimistic, and that's because all of this,

732
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:50,719
Speaker 4: the visits, the lawyers, the stress, the crying is coming

733
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:51,359
Speaker 4: to an end.

734
00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,960
Speaker 15: He made a decision to volunteer deport himself, so we're

735
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:57,920
Speaker 15: going to make that change, and just got to Columbia.

736
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:00,680
Speaker 15: He said that he'd rather do that and then just

737
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 15: try to come back again after this.

738
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 7: PRESIDENTIY is over and just go from there.

739
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:07,520
Speaker 15: And I'm just supporting him with I told him from

740
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 15: the beginning, whatever he wants to decide or whatever he

741
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:10,920
Speaker 15: feels like it's best for.

742
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:14,000
Speaker 7: Him, we just go from there. Your whole life is

743
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 7: just changing. Yes it is, and it was a really fast,

744
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 7: drastic change. But she's got to keep going.

745
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 15: I'm gonna basically sell everything that I have here, have

746
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,560
Speaker 15: a couple of monies so I can be over there

747
00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:27,600
Speaker 15: and just go from there.

748
00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:28,800
Speaker 3: I'm excited.

749
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,799
Speaker 15: I'm really excited over everything so we can get reunited again.

750
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,480
Speaker 4: Before Veronica leaves, she says she can't wait to get

751
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:43,680
Speaker 4: back to living her life. She radiates joy and peace,

752
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:47,359
Speaker 4: something that stands out to me after a weekend where

753
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 4: we heard so much sadness, fear, and anxiety over the

754
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 4: past forty eight hours. We've spoken to families that have

755
00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:59,320
Speaker 4: become paralyzed by the sudden presence of ice in their lives.

756
00:49:00,040 --> 00:49:03,719
Speaker 4: The detainments have appended everything, not just the lives of

757
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,319
Speaker 4: the people that steward, but that of everyone around them.

758
00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:12,120
Speaker 4: They're in a form of purgatory, a life sized version

759
00:49:12,239 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 4: of this home, a waiting room with no set times

760
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:20,080
Speaker 4: and no clear next steps. But Veronica and her fiance

761
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,160
Speaker 4: are bucking the system. It might look like giving up,

762
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,560
Speaker 4: and maybe it is. It's tragic to have to lose

763
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 4: it all, to be persecuted, to leave your whole life behind,

764
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 4: but it's a choice, a choice made by them. As

765
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:53,239
Speaker 4: the day wraps and our weekend that Refujio comes to

766
00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:56,960
Speaker 4: an end, families begin to make their way home. I

767
00:49:57,120 --> 00:50:00,120
Speaker 4: catch my breath outside for a minute and spot one

768
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:04,400
Speaker 4: of the volunteers doing the same. It's Mackenzie, the youngest

769
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:08,879
Speaker 4: volunteer here this weekend. She's just twenty one. I wonder

770
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:12,320
Speaker 4: how that feels for you, when like the weekends.

771
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 3: Are strong to close.

772
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 4: I know I was prob also emotionary taxi.

773
00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:19,279
Speaker 11: I think it's nice to have the people come through

774
00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:23,840
Speaker 11: and to just see how many people were really helping

775
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:27,759
Speaker 11: by being able to keep the house open and like

776
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 11: volunteering here even just to set out the stuff for

777
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:35,239
Speaker 11: lunch or make up the beds. Otherwise they'd just be

778
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:38,600
Speaker 11: sitting in the parking lot waiting for hours and hours.

779
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:41,440
Speaker 4: And these people. McKenzie is a student at Spellman, by

780
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:45,640
Speaker 4: historically black women's college in Atlanta with a rich tradition

781
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:50,520
Speaker 4: of civic involvement and community activism. McKenzie began visiting the

782
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:52,759
Speaker 4: Teinees that Stewart earlier this year.

783
00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,279
Speaker 11: I think that's like, one of the reasons why my

784
00:50:56,440 --> 00:51:00,719
Speaker 11: first visit was so important to me is that the

785
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:04,400
Speaker 11: first person that I visited being a black woman. It

786
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:09,879
Speaker 11: surprised me, Like going in and seeing that was like, Oh,

787
00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:13,000
Speaker 11: this is not what I expected an immigrant to look like.

788
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:16,520
Speaker 11: And I think because of the way that immigrations talked about,

789
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:21,560
Speaker 11: it's like, oh, it must only be Hispanic people, and

790
00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:25,239
Speaker 11: then to see that no, this is actually a much

791
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:32,560
Speaker 11: bigger issue. It affects people from all different walks of life.

792
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 11: I think some people think, oh, this isn't something that

793
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:38,279
Speaker 11: I need to be concerned about because it's not in

794
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:40,839
Speaker 11: my community. It doesn't affect me, it doesn't affect people

795
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 11: that look like me. But when you come here, there's

796
00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 11: white people, there's black people, there's Hispanic people, Europeans, Russians.

797
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:53,560
Speaker 4: She's right. This weekend, we spoke with more than sixty

798
00:51:53,719 --> 00:51:58,640
Speaker 4: people at a Refujio, families from eight different countries, speaking

799
00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:02,160
Speaker 4: a number of different lightsanguages. While we only heard the

800
00:52:02,239 --> 00:52:05,560
Speaker 4: stories of a handful of families in this piece, we

801
00:52:05,719 --> 00:52:09,719
Speaker 4: spoke with dozens, most too afraid to share publicly what

802
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:14,040
Speaker 4: they're experiencing out of fear of repercussions from the Trump administration.

803
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:17,600
Speaker 11: It's just a good reminder that this is a very

804
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:21,320
Speaker 11: diverse and complicated issue, but that ultimately coming up with

805
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 11: a better solution, with a better system that's more inclusive,

806
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:26,839
Speaker 11: benefits all of us.

807
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:37,000
Speaker 4: And really, at the end of the day, that's why

808
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:42,480
Speaker 4: we chose to come here, Because what's happening inside this place,

809
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,040
Speaker 4: hidden away in a tiny rural town in the South,

810
00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:50,360
Speaker 4: just a couple miles from an immigration detention center, is

811
00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 4: bigger than this house. In a way, the stories we

812
00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:57,880
Speaker 4: heard at Rafuchio are just a reflection of the trauma,

813
00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:03,000
Speaker 4: the chaos, and the challenges facing people across the nation

814
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:07,399
Speaker 4: at a moment in time where it can feel really

815
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:11,200
Speaker 4: hard to make sense of reality, of the law, of

816
00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:14,319
Speaker 4: how power is wielded, of the ways that we can

817
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:18,520
Speaker 4: turn on each other. El Refugio stands as a reminder

818
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,680
Speaker 4: of the ways in which people can choose to come together.

819
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:36,920
Speaker 2: We reached out to cour Civic regarding some of the

820
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:41,800
Speaker 2: claims we heard from families of detainees about conditions inside

821
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:46,480
Speaker 2: the detention center. A spokesperson for the organization submitted a

822
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:52,200
Speaker 2: lengthy response refuting all claims, adding that these allegations were

823
00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:58,160
Speaker 2: quote unfounded and not an accurate representation of Stuart Detention

824
00:53:58,440 --> 00:53:59,560
Speaker 2: Center today.

825
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:08,040
Speaker 1: End quote, and dear listener.

826
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:10,960
Speaker 2: Next week, we'll be dropping a bonus episode for our

827
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:15,279
Speaker 2: FU plus members. Producer Julia ta Martinelli is gonna take

828
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:18,759
Speaker 2: you behind the scenes of reporting out this story, and

829
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:22,239
Speaker 2: if you're not part of Futuro plus, my gosh, you're

830
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Speaker 2: missing out. Join us by going to futuro Media dot

831
00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:28,360
Speaker 2: org slash Join plus.

832
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:54,000
Speaker 3: This episode was.

833
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:57,440
Speaker 2: Produced by Julia Ta Martinelli with reporting from Shannon Heffernan.

834
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,480
Speaker 2: It was edited by Mitra Bonshahi with editing support from

835
00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:05,400
Speaker 2: Pennile Ramirez and Tom Meager. This piece is a collaboration

836
00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:11,120
Speaker 2: between Latino USA Futuro Investigates and The Marshall Project. It

837
00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:15,000
Speaker 2: was mixed by Julia Caruso and Lea Shaw Damaran in

838
00:55:15,080 --> 00:55:19,799
Speaker 2: fact checking for this episode by Roxanna Guire. Fernanda Echavari

839
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:23,080
Speaker 2: is our managing editor. Special thanks to the dozens of

840
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:25,839
Speaker 2: families who shared so much with us during our visit

841
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:30,479
Speaker 2: to a Refujio. The Latino USA team also includes Rebeccae Barra,

842
00:55:30,680 --> 00:55:36,000
Speaker 2: Renaldolanos Junior, Stephanie lebou Luis, Luna Rodri Mard Marquez, Monica

843
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:41,520
Speaker 2: Moreles Garcia, JJ Carubin, Adriana Rodriguez and Nancy Trujillo. Penni

844
00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:44,879
Speaker 2: le Ramidez and I are executive producers. I'm your host

845
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:48,160
Speaker 2: Maria Nkosa. Latino USA is part of Iheart's Mike U

846
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:52,760
Speaker 2: Dura podcast network. Executive producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez

847
00:55:53,120 --> 00:55:54,360
Speaker 2: and Arlene Santana.

848
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:56,680
Speaker 1: Join us again for our next episode.

849
00:55:56,680 --> 00:55:59,040
Speaker 2: In the meantime, I'll see you on all of our

850
00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:00,680
Speaker 2: social media and we don't forget.

851
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857
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