beckie moriello (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} beckiemoriello) wrote,@ 2009-01-06 21:36:00 |
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I go to the jail pretty frequently. I love talking with guys in jail. (They've all been guys so far. The women typically get released.) Our clients are typically in there for traffic tickets + undocumented + bad luck. Essentially all of them have families here, many have kids. Their wives call me crying. The kids don't understand. I break the news to their families slowly that, most likely, he's getting deported. Sure, we can try to get him out. But the expense + risk of longer in jail = most guys choose deportation.
I like going to the jail because you're chatting with guys in a very emotional, life-changing moment in their lives. They tell me who they trust to deal with their finances. They tell me that they need to get out to support their family. Some have only been gone for a few years and are glad to go back- especially after the way the US has treated them by throwing them in jail for a minor traffic ticket. Others haven't been to Mexico since they were children, and need me to explain how far their hometown is from Ciudad Juarez, where their plane will land.
Each story is touching. Today I saw 2 guys. One is 18yo, arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (I think the charges are already dropped), hasn't been in Mexico since he was 10, yet amazingly, this guy is fine with going back. He was so optimistic. He said, "Things have really been going my way lately," as he sat in his prison jumpsuit. This kid spoke English like an American. He's 18, and about to start a new life in essentially a foreign country.
I can keep going, but I'll stop.
Sure, I wish my tax dollars were being spent on actual criminals instead of Mexicans with traffic tickets. And once people are in deportation, we sure have an inefficient, costly way of getting it over with. (In a nutshell, detainees are constantly begging me to be able to just buy their own plane ticket and leave instead of sitting in jail for 2 weeks - 2 months waiting for the US to do it for them.) Anyway...
The following quote from House is great:
Foreman: [Ha! Your private investigator] couldn't find anything [about me].
House: You're right. That's because you haven't done anything stupid, spontaneous or even vaguely interesting since you were 17. And that's just sad.
I like going to the jail because you're chatting with guys in a very emotional, life-changing moment in their lives. They tell me who they trust to deal with their finances. They tell me that they need to get out to support their family. Some have only been gone for a few years and are glad to go back- especially after the way the US has treated them by throwing them in jail for a minor traffic ticket. Others haven't been to Mexico since they were children, and need me to explain how far their hometown is from Ciudad Juarez, where their plane will land.
Each story is touching. Today I saw 2 guys. One is 18yo, arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (I think the charges are already dropped), hasn't been in Mexico since he was 10, yet amazingly, this guy is fine with going back. He was so optimistic. He said, "Things have really been going my way lately," as he sat in his prison jumpsuit. This kid spoke English like an American. He's 18, and about to start a new life in essentially a foreign country.
I can keep going, but I'll stop.
Sure, I wish my tax dollars were being spent on actual criminals instead of Mexicans with traffic tickets. And once people are in deportation, we sure have an inefficient, costly way of getting it over with. (In a nutshell, detainees are constantly begging me to be able to just buy their own plane ticket and leave instead of sitting in jail for 2 weeks - 2 months waiting for the US to do it for them.) Anyway...
The following quote from House is great:
Foreman: [Ha! Your private investigator] couldn't find anything [about me].
House: You're right. That's because you haven't done anything stupid, spontaneous or even vaguely interesting since you were 17. And that's just sad.
