Dispatch from inside the detention machine

DMSC member Fr. Bob Mosher posted this photo and experience from migrant detention on his Facebook page.

A young woman from a country in Africa, detained in the El Paso Processing Center for the last two months, came up to me after Mass at the detention camp and asked for my prayers. She wore a perplexed expression as she explained, "I was granted asylum, but they're still keeping me here. I am scheduled to see a judge again on the 29th. Please pray that it will go well."

Asylum-seekers used to be able to leave detention after demonstrating fear of persecution in a so-called credible fear interview, the initial step of their case. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would offer a bond or a release on recognizance to individuals who had been apprehended by immigration agents, and it granted parole to those who had requested refugee status at an official port of entry.

Now, more women are in detention than ever before, and the number of women and girls seeking asylum while in detention has grown exponentially. ICE has virtually stopped granting detained immigrants bond or parole, keeping them incarcerated throughout their cases unless they successfully appeal to an immigration judge.

The need for a reform of our broken immigration system is more intense than ever, under this administration. Currently, the US government spends $2 billion a year to detain immigrants in facilities throughout the United States. The Catholic Church and other faith communities consider detention of migrating people an inhumane practice.

ICE feels bound to keep a completely arbitrary number of 34,000 immigrants daily in their detention camps throughout the country, since Congress has budgeted money for that number--the "detention bed mandate". Over 135 migrants have died in these facilities since 2002.