The good and bad news from the immigration front

It has been far too long since I have written. Many things have happened in the past two months, like hearing that four identifications have been made from the participation of the South Texas Human Rights Center in the "Missing in Harris County Day" held seven months ago in Houston.

Thirty families came to report a missing loved one that day and submitted DNA samples. When those family samples were forensically compared to DNA samples taken from remains of unidentified deceased migrants, four matches were made and the medical examiner in Houston declared identification and is now in the process of informing family and beginning the repatriation process.


Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Duecker takes a DNA sample from the family member of a missing person at the STHRC office.

The progress of "The Cemetery Mapping Project," in which the South Texas Human Rights Center has contributed to investigation, began in the cemeteries, county record offices and funeral home files of four counties in south Texas. The work will eventually cover 18 counties. The initial months of discoveries have allowed the setting of protocols and procedures. The leaders of this project are Mercedes Doretti of the Argentine Forensic Team and Dr. Kate Spradley, professor of anthropology at Texas State University. One goal is to attempt to count the number of unidentified buried migrants, another is to identify them and repatriate them with family members.


Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Duecker takes a DNA sample from the family member of a missing person at the STHRC office.


We endured the removal and destruction of seven of our water stations. Though these stations are on the meager amount of public land available in Brooks County, some deem the stations disruptive enough to vandalize and steal.

We are continuing to take calls from families of the missing and knowing that it will be a long journey for family members and multiple organizations until identification and repatriation of a body, if such efforts are successful.

It is time also to tell some of Wendy's story until she can tell it herself. As you will recall I have been Wendy at the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor. By God's grace, I was providentially assigned to visit with Wendy at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas after completing the Hutto Visitation Program Orientation run by Grassroots Leadership in Austin.

Wendy had been caught while crossing the border and had been in detention since December 2014, one year ago. Criminal charges were filed against Wendy for crossing the border without proper documentation; her political asylum claim held these charges in abeyance. According to the visitation program agreement, detainees at this facility are permitted to sign up for visits from outsiders. Wendy requested a visitor, and I visited her for the first time in April 2015.

We bonded immediately.

By God's grace, the next day, I found a pro-bono lawyer to take Wendy's case. Unfortunately, because there were only two weeks before her final asylum hearing, and since pushing back the date was not permitted, Wendy's lawyer was not able to get all the required evidence from Guatemala for Wendy to quickly be granted asylum. Though the denial was appealed, Wendy received her deportation notice at the end of November 2014. I have never met such dedicated persons as the pro bono lawyers; they have found their purpose.

Most of the time for Wendy during the past year has been spent waiting in prison-like conditions for the system to process her case. For the final month of incarceration, Wendy was sent to the Laredo Processing Center, nicknamed "the deportation center." Wendy was shell-shocked when arriving there; I had never seen her so distressed and depressed. The food was once again intolerable, but things like not having doors on toilet facilities, pushed her to the edge. In Hutto, visitors were permitted visitors from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. any day of the week. In Laredo, visits to low-level detainees such as Wendy were reduced to a potential six hours maximum per week. At least while visiting in Laredo, I was not rebuked for holding Wendy's hand.

On Saturday, Wendy and I said our good-byes with a tearful hug and whispered "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you) and "Te quiero" (I love you). For perhaps the last time, we called one another by the nicknames we had given one another "Amiga Mia" (my nickname for Wendy) and "Angel Mia" (Wendy's nickname for me). It is likely that before the next opportunity for visiting comes around, Wendy will have already been deported back to Guatemala.

Actually, Wendy had a new peace about her when we met this last time. She was stronger. She had taken back her freedom. She knew she was going to be deported at the next opportunity of the U. S. government, but that would mean reunification with her four minor children whom she has not seen for a year.