Chicken Soup + Hospitality
Chicken soup simmered on the stove at the hospitality house last weekend as El Refugio Executive Director Amilcar Valencia served as house coordinator, something he rarely has a chance to do.
Amilcar and his wife, Katie, who have been with El Refugio since the beginning, have two young kids, and it is hard to commit to a weekend in Lumpkin.
But Amilcar carved out time last weekend, and he was determined to start the weekend off right.
He brought the ingredients for chicken soup, because it is a comforting, universally familiar dish. “For us Salvadorans, soup is central to our cuisine,” he said. “We can have hot soup even when it is 100 degrees.”
And in Georgia in September, you just might get a 100-degree weekend!
He started cooking as soon as he got to the hospitality house. A team of bilingual Emory medical students arrived to visit people at SDC, building on a long tradition of support from Emory University for people detained at SDC. First, they helped with peeling and chopping.
The students went to SDC to make their visits with Rebecca, a regular El Refugio volunteer. By lunchtime, guests began arriving at the house.
Among the 27 guests El Refugio welcomed over the weekend were Allison, along with her 12-year-old daughter, and Rose. Allison was visiting her husband, who is French, and Rose was visiting her boyfriend, who is Mexican. They became friends at SDC and now ride together from Atlanta whenever they visit their loved ones.
We love these stories of the community that gets built inside SDC, an institution designed to isolate.
On Sunday, Amilcar and Rebecca welcomed more guests, including a Guatemalan woman who was nervous about going to SDC to visit a man she had known since he was a child and loved like her own son. The chicken soup comforted her, as did the camaraderie with other families.
Amilcar shared how beautiful it was to witness people bonding at the hospitality house. Friendships form quickly when the shared experience is having a loved one at SDC.
Before the group left the house to go to SDC, they surrounded Amilcar and Rebecca, and prayed for them and everyone involved with El Refugio. After, Amilcar and Rebecca said their goodbyes. “We said hasta pronto, and they headed to SDC.”
Amilcar remembered to get a group photo.
El Refugio welcomes Daniela!
El Refugio is excited to introduce our new co-worker, Daniela! She joined El Refugio in September via a Freedom For Immigrants fellowship program. Daniela, originally from Venezuela, was detained at Stewart Detention Center. We got to know Daniela when she joined a Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) complaint in 2022 blowing the whistle on a male nurse at SDC with a pattern of sexually abusing women. She later participated in a rally to shut down SDC.
Now living in the Midwest, Daniela is excited to contribute to the immigrant community while helping people who have experienced difficult situations in detention, providing them with the support they need to heal and move forward.
Her goal is to prevent more women from going through what she experienced and to provide help, hope, and guidance. She is learning from El Refugio and other grassroots organizations involved in the movement to end immigration detention.
“One of the most attractive aspects of this fellowship is for me to be able to have contact with people currently detained and urge them not to remain silent and not to be afraid,” Daniela said, “to let them know that out there are many professionals to help them have their story told, to encourage them not to be silent or to stop fighting.”
“I believe them.”
If Daniela had the opportunity to speak directly to ICE officials, this is what she would say: “I would like to show you one by one the aggressors you employ daily and make you understand that you lead an organization with criminals of abuse and harassment within your institution, corrupt people capable of hiding crimes of abuse that mark thousands of lives annually. I would show you the victims and make you listen to their stories. Take off the blindfold … Since you employ sexual assaulters and abusers year after year, stop hiding their crimes and turn them over to the authorities. And if the web of corruption within your institution has blinded your eyes, I would like to contribute to opening them.”
El Refugio honored in DC
Washington — El Refugio has received the Community Advocate Award from the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington. CAIR Coalition works alongside immigrant children and adults at risk of detention and deportation in the Capital region and beyond. More recently, CAIR Coalition has represented people at Stewart Detention Center (SDC) who have ties to the Capital region.
Kathryn M. Doan, Executive Director of CAIR Coalition, commended El Refugio for its “remarkable” efforts on behalf of immigrants. “The ongoing support provided by El Refugio, including quality housing and transportation to impacted people and their families, is critical. We are grateful to be able to rely on El Refugio as a partner working alongside impacted people. Our ability to provide high-quality legal and social services, while advocating for meaningful policy changes, is made possible by the support of donors, volunteers, advocates, and partners such as El Refugio.”
Amilcar Valencia, Executive Director of El Refugio, accepted the award at a celebration Wednesday. “It is truly an honor to receive this recognition from CAIR Coalition. We are immensely grateful for CAIR Coalition’s work providing legal representation to folks in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia, and those detained in Georgia. Like CAIR Coalition, El Refugio is committed to fighting for the dignity of everyone in our community, especially those trapped in the detention system.”
PJ Edwards, Board Chair of El Refugio, extended appreciation to the staff and volunteers who carry out El Refugio’s mission to accompany immigrants at SDC and their loved ones through hospitality, visitation, support, and advocacy. “Thanks to weekend volunteers, house coordinators, helpline volunteers, letter-writing volunteers, board members, and our hard-working staff, we can provide crucial direct support to families and people detained at SDC while working to end this inhumane and unnecessary detention system. We are grateful for the vision of the founding members, who are El Refugio's trailblazers, and to those who continue the vision of offering a human face to those trapped in detention. This recognition motivates us to continue our work until SDC is shut down.”
CAIR Coalition also honored Maryland Delegate Deni Taveras with the Lifetime Advocate Award for her continued commitment to uplifting immigrants’ rights—including helping to establish the immigrant Services and Language Access (ISLA) program in Prince George’s County.
Additionally, CAIR Coalition recognized three law firms for their dedication to supporting people and families impacted by immigration detention:
O’Melveny and Myers received the Impacting Justice Award, for supporting CAIR Coalition’s impact litigation efforts to develop the first-ever national agency advocacy and litigation challenging Executive Office of Immigration Review’s (EOIR) processes—turning a vague procedural matter into a concrete advocacy campaign.
Perkins Coie received the Detained Adult Champion Award, for its commitment to advocating for immigrant adults in detention. Since 2017, they have donated over 1,200 pro bono hours, providing compassionate and holistic representation to immigrants who are detained.
Zuckerman Spaeder received the Detained Children’s Champion Award for the boutique firm’s continued efforts to protect and defend immigrant children who are at risk of deportation. As a valued partner organization, Zuckerman Spaeder has gone above and beyond to support CAIR Coalition with its pro bono efforts.
CAIR Coalition’s announcement may be found here.
# # #
El Refugio accompanies immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones through hospitality, visitation, support, and advocacy. Visit elrefugiostewart.org. Follow El Refugio on Facebook and Instagram @elrefugiostewart and X @elrefugioga.
Tears and laughter, a long drive with no A/C, chilaquiles: weekend of hospitality
Holly, one of our most experienced house coordinators, served last weekend along with Erin, a volunteer who generously jumped in at the last minute for someone who couldn’t make it. We always appreciate last-minute volunteers!
On Saturday morning, a Nicaraguan family of five dropped by and waited at the house until SDC called and let them know they could visit. A woman from North Carolina and her two children also arrived; they were driving seven hours each way without air conditioning to see their loved one.
When our guests went to SDC, Holly and Erin organized closets and hosted a TV crew from Univision. The crew made video calls to people in SDC and talked with the guests. (We want people to know about SDC, so we work with the media when possible. Families ALWAYS have a choice whether to speak to reporters or appear on camera.)
For lunch, Erin cooked up some delicious chilaquiles , making use of the many eggs in the fridge. Everyone loved it!
Later, Holly visited a young man from Nicaragua who was kicked out of his house as a teen for being gay. He has been detained for a year. They cried as he shared his experience being on his own and of the nightmare of detention, and they laughed as he talked about all the highly dramatic telenovelas he and many of the others watch to pass the time.
The Nicaraguan family returned to Gwinnett, and the North Carolina family spent the night. They got up the next morning and visited their loved one again before heading back with a gas card, assorted fast food gift cards, and food from the house. Thank you to everyone who donates gas cards and other gift cards. Our families really appreciate them! We recently received an envelope stuffed with gas cards from a church in North Carolina, and we are so grateful.
After everyone was on their way, Holly and Erin cleaned up and headed back to Atlanta. Holly brought home duvet covers from all 18 of our beds, is washing them this week, and will deliver them to another volunteer to take back to the house next weekend.
As weekends go, this was a quiet one. Come volunteer with us!
Weekend at El Refugio: a song and a full house
JoAnn Weiss recently visited a man from Honduras who is a well known singer of corridos (ballads). He was detained in Atlanta when his band was on tour in February. “We talked about his experience at SDC,” JoAnn said. “He even wrote a song about it, which he sang for me. His voice is beautiful!”
I am a prisoner here.
Here I am a prisoner.
“It was an emotional visit,” JoAnn said. “He told me it was the first time he had sung since he had been there.”
JoAnn, board chair emeritus and longtime volunteer, was serving as house coordinator for the weekend and the only volunteer. (We are working on strategies for recruiting more volunteers! Thank you to those who have already signed up. If you signed up and have not heard from us, please contact Johanna Garcia at johanna@elrefugioministry.org.) Despite going solo, JoAnn managed to do two visits, host six overnight guests, and welcome six drop-in guests. She also squeezed in some yoga!
JoAnn’s other visit was with a woman who lives in Gwinnett County and has been in the U.S. since she was two years old. The woman is facing deportation to Mexico, a country that is completely foreign to her. She shared that she has two children who are living with her grandmother and she was nervous about her upcoming court date.
Later, back at the hospitality house, a family of three from Raleigh stopped by to wait for their visit. JoAnn made them sandwiches and gave them a gas card. A family of three from South Carolina then arrived, having been turned away at SDC because they had visited the previous Sunday. JoAnn welcomed them to spend the night and visit their loved one on Sunday. They ate sandwiches and worked on puzzles before heading to Columbus. They later returned with pizza to share!
Three Honduran men stopped by as well, having just visited a friend at SDC. JoAnn gave them a gas card and some bottled water and snacks for their trip back to North Carolina. In the early evening, a woman and her two-year-old daughter arrived from North Carolina to visit their husband/father. They decided to spend the night so they could visit him again on Sunday.
While 287g contracts with ICE, in which local police agree to turn in people who may be undocumented, have been terminated in some Georgia counties, these contracts are still in full force in many parts of North Carolina.
JoAnn then received a call from a woman driving up from Orlando who inquired about staying at the house. JoAnn assured her there was plenty of room, and the woman arrived near midnight. Having brought only a frozen lasagna, salad supplies, and fruit, JoAnn was grateful for the pizzas! There was plenty of food for all.
Because she had to leave early on Sunday, JoAnn wasn’t able to tend to the mammoth task of post-weekend laundry, but thankfully our wonderful interns, Maria and Ximena, were able to take care of it.
We appreciate JoAnn and other longtime house coordinators who do so much when the house is busy. We need more coordinators and volunteers to ensure our hospitality house is open every weekend and able to provide a place of rest and support for anyone who is visiting a loved one at SDC. Go here to volunteer, and go here to donate.
JoAnn gets up early to do yoga on the back porch of our hospitality house.
Standing with Victor on “holy ground”
El Refugio stands with Victor Puertas, an indigenous climate activist tased and arrested at a music festival on March 5, who was charged with domestic terrorism related to #StopCopCity protests. Victor was released from the DeKalb County Jail after three months, and then he was detained by ICE at Stewart Detention Center (SDC), where he now faces deportation.
Clergy and activists held a rally outside SDC on June 29 calling for Victor’s release, while some clergy visited him.
“You should meet this human who embodies so much peace, so much love, joy, and care for all, building community inside SDC,” said the Rev. Darci Jaret, pastor of Advocacy, Arts, and Worship at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Grant Park.
Friends described Victor as a “water defender” and “suncatcher,” similar in spirit to Manuel Esteban “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, who was murdered by police on Jan. 18 in the Weelaunee Forest. Victor traveled great distances to chop wood, repair roofs for older people, and help out in any capacity.
Tortuguita’s mother, Belkis, spoke at the rally, saying, “I am here because [my child] cannot be here.”
The Rev. Dave Dunn of Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North Congregation said, “We are standing on holy ground.” He said he visited Victor at the DeKalb County Jail, and that he “lives for human connection and is detained in a place devoid of human connection.”
Nilson Barahona-Marriaga, who was detained at the Stewart and Irwin detention centers, advocates for the abolishment of immigration detention. “This is what brings me back to Stewart,” he said. “I know what it feels like to hear that door shut behind your back. It feels like they are crushing your soul.”
Weekend at the hospitality house: “It makes me feel special”
On Friday night, a woman knocked on the door. She had driven six hours from Florida and was seeking a place to stay overnight so she could visit her son at Stewart Detention Center (SDC) on Saturday. Loyda Paz Perez, a longtime El Refugio volunteer and board member, along with our two summer interns, welcomed the woman and listened as she shared her story. After they talked, Loyda showed her to one of our guestrooms. When she saw the spacious, comfortable bedroom, she was overwhelmed. Me hace sentir especial, she said.
It makes me feel special.
On Saturday, the woman visited her son at SDC. Before she left, she told the volunteers she was moved to see people coming from long distances to provide hospitality to strangers. She said the house was beautiful, and she had slept very well.
Later that day, a South Carolina family of eight stopped by. The guards at SDC had suggested they wait at the house instead of the waiting room. Wait times can be long—up to several hours—depending on the number of people waiting to visit and Covid protocols. At the house, the volunteers played with the youngest child while the older children studied. This has become a new role of El Refugio: providing hospitality for people waiting for visits. Before the family left, the volunteers gave them a gas card and food for the trip back home.
On Sunday morning, a family of four dropped by. They had arrived at SDC during women’s visiting hours and needed to wait for men’s visiting hours to visit their loved one. The mother and daughter chatted with Loyda while their friend and son rested. The mother had not seen her son since he was transferred to SDC a year earlier. Like many people, she was afraid to go to the detention center to visit her loved one because she was afraid of being detained. One of our interns accompanied her to SDC to provide support.
Later, the woman called to thank us. She was so glad she was able to visit her son; she had thought she might never see him again. Her son was scheduled to be deported soon, so we explained to her how to get him a bag of clothes, which she did the next day.
This is what El Refugio does. This is our mission, our purpose. We provide a variety of other services, but the heart of our work is this hospitality house and the refuge and friendship we are able to provide for people visiting their loved ones at SDC. Volunteer. Give. Thank you.
Students to research conditions at SDC
El Refugio is excited to welcome two summer interns from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky: Ximena Tamariz and Maria Sanchez. Ximena and Maria plan to have careers as immigration lawyers and will spend the summer reporting on conditions inside SDC. They will also design mini-galleries for the hospitality house to showcase artwork by people detained there, an extension of work initiated by Dr. Kristen Kolenz, an assistant professor of international studies at Centre. Kristen previously partnered with El Refugio on two ambitious projects, authoring our 2021 Cage of Fear report and co-curating our 2022 Breaking Out art exhibit at Brown University.
Welcome Ximena and Maria!
Ximena Tamariz
Maria Sanchez
Partners for Period Products
They’re like gold.
El Refugio recently got a call from one of our nonprofit partners, Her Drive. During the pandemic, Her Drive had helped us provide period products – including bras, sweatshirts, and beauty products – to people released from Stewart Detention Center (SDC). To say these items were well-received would be an understatement; a new bra can spark joy.
Her Drive was offering another 50,000 period products as part of a promotion by Always, makers of period pads. Because most people leaving SDC were now flying straight to their new homes, El Refugio did not have an easy way to share the products. So we put out a call to our partners and learned there was a huge need in the local immigrant community for period products.
“They’re like gold,” one agency director told us.
We contacted the Latino Community Fund of Georgia (LCF-GA) Ventanillas de Salud program, which provides free healthcare access and information to the Latinx community. They enthusiastically accepted four carloads of products over several months, giving them away at community events.
We also brought two carloads of products to Embrace Refugee Birth Support, a Clarkston-based program affiliated with Friends of Refugees. The organization advocates for and educates refugees throughout the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience. Our partners at Embrace let their community know the period products were available, and all were quickly claimed. We donated additional products to high schools serving large numbers of immigrant students.
All our partners shared how happy people were to have free and easy access to essential health products. We love working with other organizations to meet community needs. Through these types of collaborative efforts, we are all so much greater than the sum of our parts!
Three days of accompaniment: advocacy, visitation, and post-release support
We would like to tell you about our activities over three days earlier this week. But first, we want to thank everyone who has supported our Join us at the table! Spring Campaign. If you haven’t contributed yet, please consider a donation. No amount is too small as we work to ensure we can continue meeting the needs of people detained at Stewart Detention Center (SDC) and their loved ones.
A rally for Salvador Vargas
El Refugio co-organized and participated in a rally at the entrance to SDC in partnership with Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) and other advocacy groups, visited with a man from Guatemala who is detained at SDC, and purchased a ticket for a flight to Texas for a man who was released.
On Saturday, El Refugio welcomed about 50 advocates and community members who attended the rally at SDC. House coordinator Helen Hobson hosted the group at our hospitality house before and after the event, which took place outside the SDC gates.
The rally was in response to the recent death of Mr. Salvador Vargas, who died in ICE custody at SDC on April 4. Advocates called for the shutdown of this facility and honored the 11 people who have died, including Mr. Vargas, 61, of Mexico.
In addition to El Refugio and GLAHR, Project South, Georgia Detention Watch (GDW), the ICE Breakers, Community Estrella, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) participated in the rally.
Executive Director Amilcar Valencia was especially moved by letters sent by a group of women inside SDC read aloud during the event. “Later, we learned this group of women was retaliated against for making calls that day,” Amilcar said. “Their tablets were taken away.”
El Refugio has a long history of participating in rallies, vigils, and marches calling for the closure of SDC. We do so to let people know they are not alone or forgotten, and that people outside of SDC are aware of the conditions and human rights violations at the facility. Along with our partners, we held a press conference at the ICE field office in Atlanta last week in advance of Saturday’s rally. While our Atlanta events are more convenient for most of our supporters, we recognize the importance of making the drive to Lumpkin, separated from the people being unjustly held at SDC by only about 50 yards—and a lot of barbed wire.
Lifting spirits through visitation
On Saturday afternoon, Helen visited a man from Guatemala who has been detained at SDC for two months. This was his second visit from El Refugio. Greg Wickersham, a board member who visited him previously, had sent him a book on Greek architecture.
The man told Helen conditions are crowded with so many people coming directly from the southern border. He said he had been treated more like a human being at the detention center in Virginia where he was previously held.
“Visits for my new friend are serving a huge role in his self care right now,” Helen wrote in her report. “ It has reminded me how powerful that human connection can be. He would also beam when he talked about the Greek architecture book Greg had sent to him. That was really all that made him smile.”
Our visitation program is not as large as it was before the pandemic due to continued Covid restrictions at SDC, but visits remain deeply meaningful to the people who receive them, as well as to the volunteers. Books and commissary deposits also continue to bring comfort to people detained at SDC.
A plan to pay it forward
On Monday, SDC released 18 people, a large number compared to recent weeks when releases have been few and far between. Michelle Fierro, our Post-Release Coordinator, took calls from families all day, helping them work out transportation.
A man trying to get to Texas did not have money for a flight. “He started crying on the phone when I said we would support him,” Michelle said. “He said, ‘I want to start working soon so I can pay it forward to another person.’ “
So there you have it: three days of accompaniment at El Refugio. Thank you again for your continued support. Without our donors, none of this work would be possible!
Advocates from organizations around Georgia call for the closure of Stewart Detention Center
Lou and Leon: “We hate injustice”
Every time Lou and Leon head back from a weekend of volunteering for El Refugio, they vow to retire. The 2.5-hour drive is long, and between visiting people at SDC and helping at the hospitality house, the experience is tiring.
But their resolve always melts away, and Lou and Leon return to the hospitality house in Lumpkin, where they visit people at SDC, prepare meals at the house, wash sheets, and do whatever is needed to bring comfort to people visiting loved ones at SDC.
Lou and Leon recently volunteered for what we expected to be a quiet weekend. Instead, the hospitality house was busy and full. “I was so glad to have Lou and Leon there,” said Executive Director Amilcar Valencia, who was serving as house coordinator during the unexpected influx.
Lou and Leon have been with El Refugio for many years, adding their volunteer work to a lifetime of service. A retired nurse, Lou spent decades caring for those in need, including nearly two decades at a health clinic serving people without insurance, who were often immigrants from Latin America. During his career, Leon worked as a church pastor, adult ESL teacher, and addiction counselor. Together, they also served as missionaries in Portugal.
Lou and Leon first learned about El Refugio around eight years ago through an announcement at Oakhurst Baptist Church. Because they had been a part of a program sponsoring Cambodian refugees though Brook Valley Church and a program welcoming Chen people from Burma at Oakhurst Baptist Church, they were ready to provide some radical hospitality.
“We’ve long been involved with people from other countries,” Lou says. “And we hate injustice.”
Like most volunteers, Lou and Leon’s experience volunteering in Lumpkin has been one of sadness and joy. “I also remember visiting a trans man at the detention center who had been in the process of transitioning but had to stop when he was locked up,” says Leon. “That was hard.”
But there are also happy times:
“I also remember in the old house, when we managed to cram in 14 of us at one time,” said Leon.
Lou also finds joy amid the pain of immigration detention.
“I enjoy playing with the kids,” says Lou. “And my favorite thing to do is to cook for everyone.”
Lou and Leon at our hospitality with guests during an unexpectedly busy weekend.
When a family comes to Lumpkin to say goodbye, El Refugio is there
The students arrived at the hospitality house not knowing what to expect, and JoAnn, longtime El Refugio house coordinator, didn’t either. It had been a while since she had hosted a group of volunteer visitors in Lumpkin.
“I had forgotten the feeling of anticipation and curiosity of the students,” JoAnn said, “and the feeling of pride and excitement I felt in our organization when they all walked in.”
The students were from the Presbyterian Student Center of UGA, led by the Rev. Haley Lerner. JoAnn took everyone on a tour of the house and shared its history from slavery days, to its purchase and renovation, to its role as a place of welcome and rest for loved ones of people detained at Stewart Detention Center (SDC).
That same morning, Marta arrived with her three grandchildren. Her son was at SDC, and would soon be deported. She was very upset, and JoAnn spent some time talking with her. The children belonged to her daughter, Sandra, who was at SDC visiting her brother one last time.
The children played in the playroom and outside on the playground. When Sandra came to the house after her visit, she got a snack and something to drink, and JoAnn made sure the family had plenty of snacks and a gas card for the trip back home.
That afternoon, JoAnn took some of the students to SDC to visit people detained there, while Connie, a longtime volunteer, led the other students in sorting donated clothes for deportation bags. When the group returned from doing visits, they had the opportunity to share their experience with the others before going back to UGA. JoAnn and Connie stayed the night, and after making a visit to SDC on Sunday morning, they too headed home.
We don’t always have overnight guests, but our hospitality house continues to be alive with meaningful activity as we continue to be present for people detained at SDC and their loved ones.
A volunteer plays a game with a boy staying at El Refugio’s hospitality house.
Dignity not denial of asylum rights
The Biden Administration recently announced a proposed rule that would make many individuals and families seeking protection ineligible for asylum in the United States.
We at El Refugio believe that all people have inherent dignity and the fundamental right to seek protection. People cross borders for freedom from persecution, a safe community, and a living wage. The proposed policy change seeks to deny immigrants the right to seek asylum and is another attempt to criminalize migration and ramp up immigration detention.
As an organization that envisions a world without detention, we denounce this proposed rule. It violates established U.S. law and represents a significant setback of the Biden administration's commitment to restore the asylum process. Implementing this change will deny protection to countless individuals and families who make the long and perilous journey to seek safety.
Thousands of people seek protection in the United States every year, often fleeing violence and political persecution. Immigrants leave their home countries because they fear for their lives. Many have been tortured and jailed and had loved ones disappear. They cross several borders in search of a safe haven. This rule change would send survivors of torture and violence back to the place they are fleeing.
The proposed rule is inhumane and fails to address the root causes of migration. It violates the international treaty to protect those who have been harmed and cross borders to safeguard their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.
The federal government has opened the proposed rule for comments through March 27, 2023. Please comment! This proposed rule is NOT the solution. There are humane solutions.
Our first overnight guests in almost three years!
We closed our hospitality house in March of 2020 when the pandemic struck. ICE ordered all visitation at immigration detention centers shut down, and without visitation we would not have any guests. We were so scared and confused. What was COVID-19? How was it transmitted? How long would the pandemic last? How would people in detention protect themselves?
Then time went on and the pandemic continued, we found other ways to accompany people at SDC and their loved ones. Our house stood empty, but we took the opportunity to make repairs and partner with Southface Energy Institute to install solar panels and make other energy-efficient enhancements.
Later, when prisons around the country re-opened visitation, but immigration detention centers, with one exception in Virginia, continued to deny people visits from loved ones. El Refugio and other organizations advocated for the re-opening of visitation. Finally, in September, SDC re-opened and visitation resumed and families are once again making the drive from North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and other states to see their loved ones.
El Refugio volunteers are once again visiting people who requested a social visit. While waiting to visit, volunteers chat with families in the waiting room and tell them about our hospitality house. Some have stopped by to check it out and to rest. But, until recently, no one spent the night. Undaunted, coordinators kept going to Lumpkin, opening the house, and waiting for guests.
On Jan. 8, 2023, we hosted our first overnight guests since the pandemic shutdown!
A young couple with a seven-month-old baby and their cousin stopped by the hospitality house and decided to stay the night! Greg Wickersham, El Refugio’s longtime volunteer and board treasurer, was the coordinator, and, he had a college student from Indiana was volunteering as well. The family was able to visit their loved one on Saturday, have lunch and dinner at the hospitality house, sleep late on Sunday, and enjoy a relaxing breakfast before heading home.
“It was a blessing to have overnight guests,” Greg said.
El Refugio does many things to accompany people at SDC and their loved ones in addition to operating our hospitality house on the weekends. Hospitality is at the core of our mission, and it’s the reason our organization was started. It feels so good to be back. If you are interested in volunteering at the hospitality house, fill out this form. Spanish is NOT required to volunteer at the house.