By Jude Joffe-Block, KJZZ-News for Fronteras
PHOENIX – Hundreds of immigrants are heading back to their families after being released from US detention centers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it released low-risk detainees for budget reasons, as federal lawmakers grapple with the threat of automatic sequestration cuts. Several of those released in Phoenix have just had their first taste of freedom in a long time.
This Greyhound bus station near the Phoenix airport, is the first stop for many immigrants released from immigration detention centers in Arizona. Taxi driver Henry Williams is here at the station most nights. He says it’s normal to see a few people dropped off from immigration detention centers, but last weekend was unusual.
HENRY WILLIAMS: “This Saturday it was humongous, there was three busloads.”
That’s because starting late last week, ICE began releasing certain detainees who weren’t a priority for detention – about 12 percent of the detained population in the state. The agency says the releases are winding down now, but it was an effort to save money given the pending budget crisis. The unusual move provoked outrage from several prominent Republicans, including Arizona’s governor. Whatever the fall out, it meant good business for taxis here.
WILLIAMS: “I took one who got released on Saturday, we took him all the way to Fresno, California.”
That’s an eight and a half hour drive. Williams says the customer didn’t have much money on him, but his family paid the fare of $1,400 when they arrived. Many immigrants detained here in Arizona don’t have ties to the state, and are trying to get to other parts of the country.
At 8:30 at night a van from the detention facility in Florence pulls up across the street. Five men get out, each with a paper bag with their belongings. One is Reynaldo Mejia, a 21 year old from El Salvador with a black goatee.
REYNALDO MEJIA: “Fui detenido hace ya varias meses….”
Mejia says he was detained for several months after he was apprehended at the border. He noticed people were being released this weekend.
MEJIA: “Sentia una esparanza, una alegria, que va a llegar mi turno, y gracias a dios, ya llego…”
He says he felt hope, happiness that his turn would come, and thank goodness, it did. He has no ID on him except the official bracelet from the detention facility that is still on his wrist. This Greyhound station is essentially the first place he’s been in the U.S. as a free man. His family bought him a bus ticket to join him in Los Angeles. That’s also where he has to show up for court next month, because like all the immigrants recently released from detention, his immigration cases hasn’t been dismissed, and he still faces the possibility of deportation.
MEJIA: “Me dieron los documentos…”
“They gave me documents with the date and address of where I have to show up,” he says.
A half hour later, about a dozen more people arrive, they say from Eloy in Central Arizona. A man who doesn’t give his name says his release was a nice surprise.
Man: “I got happy I get to go see my kids. [How long has it been?] Eighteen months.”
He’s headed back to California. A skinny 24 year old who only gives his name as Francisco is shivering with excitement in the parking lot. He’s just borrowed a taxi driver’s phone to call relatives in Mesa to pick him up.
FRANCISCO: “No sabian que iba a llegar, haha”
They didn’t know I was coming, he says. Francisco will have to check in with ICE officers in Phoenix while he waits for his court date. He says he was in danger in Mexico and came to ask for asylum here. When I ask him what he’ll do now that he is no longer detained, he doesn’t hesitate.
FRANCISCO: “Trabajar y trabajar, echarle ganas…”
“Work and work, and give it my all,” he says.
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