蜜桃传媒 on Campus students from Alabama visit detained immigrants in Georgia
Jasmine Boutdy sat outside the glass window, picked up the phone, and listened intently as the detained immigrant on the other side of the glass told his story.
The 23-year-old man had left his family behind in Bangladesh to escape political strife.
First, he traveled to Qatar, then to Brazil, then up through Central America and into Mexico. After crossing the U.S. border, he spent three days walking around before he finally went to police and asked for asylum.
For all his trouble, he was sent to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where he lost his asylum case. After 15 long months, he remained in detention, with no end in sight.
The man told his story to Boutdy, one of five students at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama (AUM) who visited detained immigrants at Stewart late last year.
The trip was organized by , a program of the 蜜桃传媒 that helps college students raise awareness of social justice issues with their peers, and helps them become agents of change within their communities. The program has chapters at 73 colleges across the country.
Boutdy said the detained immigrant鈥檚 story especially tugged at her heartstrings because of her own family history.
鈥淢y parents were refugees from the Vietnam War, so growing up, I have a connection to these stories about the hardships of coming over as refugees, coming over with little to nothing, language barrier, separation from family,鈥� said Boutdy, 21, a sociology major. 鈥淭hat was a different time, a different experience. So I just wanted to hear a more current perspective.鈥�
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The visit to the detention center was an eye-opener not only for Boutdy but also for the other members of 蜜桃传媒 on Campus at AUM who joined her on the trip, said Pia Knigge, PhD, an assistant professor of political science at AUM who is the chapter鈥檚 faculty adviser. The group plans to visit Stewart again in April.
鈥淣one of us expected what we witnessed, that is: the pronounced inhumanity and injustice embedded in the detention and treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers held at Stewart and unknown to the American public,鈥� Knigge said. 鈥淭he students have stayed in touch with the detainees they visited, and they are looking forward to the next visit.鈥�
Since her visit to Stewart, Boutdy has been exchanging letters with the detainee she met there.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e only watching it from the news, if we鈥檙e only keeping it at a distance, it stays at a distance, it鈥檚 not a real issue that matters to us,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o now that I have a friend who is an asylum seeker in this space, it means a lot more, and it encourages me to speak up about it, to pursue action.鈥�
Donna Sanford, another 蜜桃传媒 on Campus member at AUM who went on the trip with Boutdy, said she, too, was motivated to speak up about what she saw and heard there.
The Mexican immigrant she visited was detained after he was pulled over for a DUI. He told Sanford he had a cold, but did not receive medical treatment from the center.
鈥淚 call them inmates, because that鈥檚 how they treat them,鈥� Sanford, 48, a secondary education major, said after her visit. 鈥淚t was emotional. It鈥檚 a drop in the spirit.鈥�
But, she said, 鈥淚t makes you stronger and want to do something about it.鈥�
The 蜜桃传媒 on Campus group at AUM has made immigration its theme for the year, and members want to get the word out about conditions at Stewart.
They recalled entering the center through gates lined with razor wire, being shepherded through a double-entry access system, and going through metal detectors. They proceeded through sliding bars that were opened, then shut behind them as they went into small rooms. There, they spoke to detainees through phones on either side of a glass partition.
Detainees told them they were forced to sleep in bunk beds in rooms with multiple men, and that it was difficult to sleep because other detainees stayed up late, talking. The students also recalled the hopelessness the men conveyed to them at being locked up without any recourse.
鈥淭heir conditions were horrible,鈥� said Sam Duff, 23, vice president of the 蜜桃传媒 on Campus chapter at AUM. Duff spoke to a man from Gambia who had been detained for 18 months after coming to America to visit his family.
鈥淲hen we conversed, I was just trying to keep his spirits up. He didn鈥檛 know what to do.鈥�
The 蜜桃传媒 is not identifying the detainees in this story to protect their confidentiality. A growing number of detainees at Stewart are represented by the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI) 鈥� a project of the 蜜桃传媒 that enlists and trains volunteer lawyers to provide free legal representation to detained immigrants who are facing deportation proceedings in the Southeast.
The 蜜桃传媒 on Campus students have vowed to keep exposing conditions at Stewart, hoping to make a difference.
鈥淚t was an emotional trip,鈥� Sanford said. 鈥淲e were all kind of wowed when we came out of there. We鈥檙e going back. We鈥檙e not going to stop.鈥�
