Juan

"Juan" / 6 Months in Detention / Nicaragua 12-21-25 ​I send a greeting to all the people who read this daily diary of my horrible experience, deprived of my liberty for being undocumented in this beautiful and great country, the U.S.A. Detained and transferred to the I.C.E. detention center in Adelanto, CA. ​As I write this diary of living deprived of liberty here in G.E.O. Adelanto, CA, I hope you understand that every person experiences it differently than others. ​In the month of June, immigration detained me and deprived me of my liberty by transferring me to Immigration in Santa Ana, CA, at around 7:30 AM to be processed. Upon arrival, you have to pass by several immigration officials who give you verbal mistreatment that is so ugly and very horrible. ​Starting the check-in process, the first thing they seize is your I.D. or driver's license, and in other cases, your passport. Everything you are wearing is taken from you and put into "belongings"—clothing and accessories. ​It is not a fast process; on the contrary, the officials make you wait in very cold rooms, popularly called by migrants "hieleras" (iceboxes). My process started around 9:00 AM and ended around 2:00 PM, and then back to the waiting hieleras. Lunch was a tiny box of juice and a container of cereal. After finishing the process with Immigration, I had a wait of approximately 4 hours until being transferred to the I.C.E. detention center in Adelanto, CA, in a van, handcuffed by hands, feet, and waist. By around 7:00 PM, I was already in G.E.O. in Adelanto, CA, and another long and exhausting check-in process began (2 days) because of the enormous number of people they were processing. Back in the famous hieleras in G.E.O., the horrible process began. When the process ended and they gave us inmate clothing, they transferred us to the corresponding inmate blocks. Divided by colors: Red: The most dangerous of the inmates. High Orange: Those who can live with the Reds. Low Orange: Those who can live with the Blues. Blue: The lowest of all the colors and very low in "dangerousness," in theory. I was in High Orange for a month, and thank God nothing happened to me since those people are not very educated; the only thing is that if someone is looking for trouble, they will find it. After a month, they transferred me and put me in Blue since the F.B.I. investigation had passed. Upon arrival, I encountered many very rude people who invade your private space and your belongings; they touch them without asking permission. Little by little, I was adapting and assimilating that I am in an immigration jail to be deported. Every day, sadness invades me because the deportation is present day and night in my head. But with the help of God, family, and true friends, I was assimilating the terrible reality of living as an inmate on the verge of being deported. Every day I wake up early, and if I can help with the cleaning, I do it, since that serves as a distraction for the mind. Later, they bring us breakfast; some eat it, others save it for later. Then I go out to the yard to try to do a little exercise, as long as it's our turn for the yard in the morning, because the small yard is shared with another hall which has a capacity for 80 people. At midday, we eat lunch and watch T.V. or a movie. Every day we clean our cell, which is shared with other people; that way we avoid illnesses, since a simple pill takes more than a month to be given to you because the medical attention is the absolute worst. That is how we spend almost every day. When night arrives, dinner also arrives. Everyone eats and watches the only thing that distracts here: the T.V. Many others cook and make other food to feel different flavors, since the food they give us is the same every month. And other people call their families by phone or video call. The day passes just like yesterday and the one to come, because everyone here lives under a stress that explodes at any moment. I am still in uncertainty and stressed, not knowing what is going to happen to me and all the people who live here. Many are deported and others arrive to occupy that empty space; so you always see new faces that are going to have to assimilate a reality called deportation, for not having documents like Residency in this beautiful country. I say goodbye with tears in my heart because perhaps they think one is a delinquent. Some, like twenty percent, perhaps are, but eighty percent of the people who are here are very humble and very hard-working. Signed: One more inmate from the Adelanto, CA Immigration center.