The Interview

Two weeks ago a tragedy happened, my two friends got detained.  So I asked them some questions.  Here are my questions:

1.  What was the struggle in detention? 
One struggle was being exposed to so many cases.  I really just wanted to help everybody but I couldn't.  I helped with what ever I could - a phone call for someone- or when someone was sick.  But it was never enough.  These were the biggest struggles. 

2.  Did the guards beat or mistreat you? 
No the guards didn't beat me but there were times when they were mean to me.  There was a time when someone had a fever and I called the guard.  She came in and was mad.  She said that "The Doctor is coming."  When I called her again, she said, "Excuse me" and I said, "Excuse you."  That comment made her mad.  The next time when I called her to ask for a toothbrush she took me into the hall and lectured me.  But the guards were nicer than they had been before because there had been a hunger struke?

3.  What were the eproblems of people in there? 
The problem is that many were not documented.  This is a problem because when they get a ticket and the police ask for their driver's license.  When they say they don't have a license.  They are taken to detention and held for three months.  Many of them don't have money to call their families.  They are criminalized.

4.  Did the people in detention tell you their stories? 
Yes, they are really friendly, they are nice,  They offered me food.  They told me their stories,  It was bittersweet leaving because I made a lot of friends.  It was hard to leave them.  A typical story was "I was coming back from work and they pulled over and asked me for documents."  Most had families in Lousiana and they were worried,  they would sign their own voluntary departure.

5.  Would you do it again? 
Yes, but not now because it is emotionally draining.  I missed my family.  I would do it again and be more prepared next time.  I would have more resources.  We got a couple of cases inside but we lacked lawyers to represent them.

Now, I will interview my firend who didn't get detained but helped Isaac and Jonathan from the outside.

Jonathan Perez

1.  Did you make any friends in detention?
Of course, we made a lot of friends.  I think what was difficult was that we were only going to be friends with them there.  That was the hard part.

2.  Why did you do it?
Because it had to be done.  It was the natural next step.  We have been trying to prove that the government is lying about deporting people who are not criminals.  It was a special mission and it was risky but we needed to go as far as we could go.  We needed to go into deportaiton, which is what we all fear.  We realized this is not scary.  But we have alot of people helping us.  If it wasn't us it would have been someone else.

3.  If you had chance to talk to Obama what would you say? 
I never thought about that question because I think talking to him wouldn't change it because there are many things involved beside his personal opinion.  If I did have the chance, I would say "what makes you different from me."  You dad was an immigrant.  What makes you different from me than you can deport my mother or father.  Then, depending on his answer I would say why do you do what you do.  My goal has never been to address him.  When he ran for President, he came to our high school and said he supported the Dream Act. I want to address him as a person as Barack [the person] and hold him accountable as a person.  I want to expose his humanity of lack of humanity. 


Andrea Ortega

1. How did you communicate with them when they were in detention? 
They could call us but we couldn't call them.  It cost a dollar a minute.  It was really expensive, like $6.00 a minute.  One hundred dollars would buy you fifteen minutes. 

2.  Was it worth spending you money?
Yes, of course it was.  I know they are strong people.  But being outside and not knowing was nerve racking.  Not hearing from them made me worry about them.  But they were also organizing and getting information on details on cases.  They were helping people inside.

(At this point in the interview, we all broke down and sang "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.)