Visited my client Jose at the Adelanto ICE prison today so he wouldn’t feel forgotten on Christmas Eve. He just turned 19 & this will be the 3rd Christmas he has spent in an ICE prison. He has been in @ICEgov custody for 787 days. He asked me to share this note w/ his supporters 
In English his note says: “Hello to everyone. Thanks to all for your help and all you are doing for me. Even if I’ve been here a long time thank you for being with me and god bless you. I have hope because you all are with me. Thank you. Merry Christmas. -Jose
It’s a long drive to Adelanto since it is (by design) in the middle of nowhere. While I waited in the lobby the guards were laughing about the white elephant exchange they apparently had that morning as families waited solemnly to be allowed back to see their loved ones.
After waiting an hour I was able to go back & see Jose. He thanked me for coming and I apologized that he was still there. He has recently grown a beard and looks so much older than when we first met. He looked very tired and told me he has not slept well for days due to pain.
Jose suffers from severe pain from the gunshot wound in his stomach, and the cold nights make it worse. The last few days have been so bad that they finally brought him to see a doctor who says there may be an infection. He got some pills for the pain, but he says it still hurts.
He said even before the infection he couldn’t sleep well because of nightmares. He dreams about the day he was shot or about getting shot again. He told me that the constant threat of being sent back to Guatemala makes his nightmares worse.
He told me he thinks he might be the person at Adelanto who has been there the second longest, aside from a guy from Nepal who has been there 3.5 years. He told me about his cell mates, brothers from Honduras and a man from Cameroon who he practices his English with at night.
I asked him what is the hardest thing about being here so long, and he said “I am losing my youth. Just stuck here. It’s affecting me mentally. I never thought I would be stuck in a prison like this. I feel depressed and sad. But I know I will lose my life if I go to Guatemala.”
I promised him that we would keep fighting. I told him about @ImmDef and @jactioncenter’s habeas, I told him about the law firms helping on his appeals, I told him about the articles @brittny_mejia and @teoarmus wrote about his case & how many ppl know & care about this injustice
I asked If he needed more money for his commissary and he said he had enough right now b/c of volunteers who came to visit him last Friday. He asked if I could get him an English-Spanish dictionary and maybe some magazines. We talked for a while about which tv shows he likes.
And then I left him there, sitting at a plastic table in that god forsaken prison. We waved at each other through the giant metal door as I was let out and he was led back to his cell. I took a deep breath and tried to make sense of all of this, but I can’t.
As I walked out through the visiting area it was full of families & kids sitting with detainees. The hum of the groups talking could be mistaken for a Xmas party except half the people are in jumpsuits and everyone looks sad. There are several people crying and wiping their eyes.
I don’t know what all of this means. Immigration prisons are cruel and unforgiving places devoid of justice. I don’t know why Jose has been here so long, it makes no sense. But I know we need to keep fighting for change. We can do better than this and we have to. #abolishICE
