Noami and Juan.

Noami and Juan.

I have known Noami since the week that she crossed the border with friends at age 19.  She was always very independent and conquered the challenge of a new culture and status.  She very quickly acquired a job in a local restaurant and has worked every day and sometimes nights since.  She learned English and we talked much about the role of women and families.  When I see her, I often think of the phrase that “women need men like a fish needs a bicycle”.  She worked hard and soon became a manager at the restaurant.  She bought her own trailer and painted it throughout.  She bought her own car and taught herself how to drive.  She has never been stopped for a traffic offense.  After a few years, she had her first baby boy whom she cared for with the help of friends.  She refused any kind of social service help.  When he was six she went on vacation and four months later those around her realized that she was pregnant again.  When the baby was several months old, I babysat for him while she worked.  She indicated that a friend of hers would pick him up.  I was surprised when a handsome male I didn’t know showed up and the baby was delighted to see him.  His bond with the baby was very clear.  I questioned Noami later and learned that Juan was the father of baby George.  She had no feelings for him but he had moved over 200 miles to be near his baby.  He has no other relatives in the United States.  He insists on seeing the child on a regular basis and does help support him.  Noami has several night shifts on her job and eventually let him babysit while she was gone.  Then Juan got picked up by the police for driving without a license or insurance and was picked up by ICE.  Noami was very upset and immediately figured out where he was and began to bond with other women whose husbands were being held.  I had never seen her so upset.  Several weeks later the three men were released from a county jail (ICE had rented space) without bond but all are to have immigration hearings in one year.  This couple is now together.  ICE has helped baby George and his big brother have a family.  Noami knows that that could be undone at the next hearing, especially if immigration needs detainees for immigration centers or needs to deport more people for their own statistics.

romeo and julie

Romeo  and Julie

My con tact with this family has been intermittent.  I first heard of Julie when I was talking with her brother and learned that his 17 year old sister was in the process of crossing the border.  The coyote who was driving undocumented people to our state had called him and asked him to speak to his sister so that she would stop crying.  The fear was that immigration  representatives would be suspicious of a young girl who continued to cry.  It seemed natural to me that a 17 year old who was leaving a home in rural Mexico, perhaps forever, would cry.  A few years later, I visited her in the hospital where she had given birth to a son.  She had formed a liaison with an urban  Hispanic which did not work out.  As the child started kindergarten, I began  to see her with Romeo.  I saw them often in the park where the bus stopped.  They were always running and playing and often holding hands.  Their love for each other was clear.  Then one day I drove by Romeo’s house and realized that someone had painted his car orange with two black strips.  I mentioned this to a relative and was told that no one drove the car except in emergencies.  Several months later, he needed to go to work after the busses quit running, drove the car, and was picked up by law enforcement for a traffic violation.  He was referred to immigration.  On the day immigration picked him  up, Julie took her last $50 and sent a money order to the jail where he was to be held.  This shy woman contacted everyone she knew in the community who had had any contact with ICE.  Several weeks later, Romeo was released without bail although an immigration hearing was scheduled next year.  Julie’s entire family drove the two hours to pick him up.  The Secure Community program has saved the community from orange cars.  I do fear the future hearing.  This is a young man who is single and has not been in the country long; he technically has no family in the U.S.  I wonder if legal marriage would help him?

Roberto 2.

Roberto 2.

Roberto is in a county jail.  An immigration judge has set his bond at $3500.  His family set out immediately to raise that money; Roberto does not want to go back to Mexico.  He also needed extra money to exist in the county jail.  He called his cousin and gave her the address.  Jails vary in the way inmates receive money;  this one wanted postal money orders.  In this state inmates need money.  The greatest need is for underwear.  The person enters jail with only one pair and is not given another one.  They need to buy additional sets if clothes are ever to be washed.  This week the family has raised the needed bond money.  I called the Chicago immigration office for them.  I kept pushing buttons until I was talking to a real officer who could help me.  This is the first time I wasn’t talking to a machine and the officer was even polite.  He gave me a direct number – give that man a raise.  We were to call 24 hours before we wanted Roberto and the agency would transfer him to Chicago.  The family has to arrive early with money and identification indicating that someone is a citizen.  It takes two hours to type the necessary forms to let someone out on bond.  I hope that this doesn’t backfire for the family.