So, as many of you may know, David was transferred from Dodge County, Wisconsin to Pine Prairie, Louisiana last week. Initially, I was freaking out, as I tend to do. I didn't know why they were moving him, I didn't know what to expect, I was upset because I had finally planned to visit him five days later and now he was being shipped all that way down south.
Well, it actually hasn't been all that bad. Turns out they were only moving him because so many of the area facilities were becoming full or overcrowded, so they were taking the people who had been in there the longest and shipping them out. According to David: The facility is bigger and better. The officers are nicer. There are a lot less restrictions--he can use the phone at any time, he can watch TV at any time, he was able to read some of the magazines I had sent him in Dodge County that they wouldn't allow for him and put into his property (SI Swimsuit Issue, Maxim), the food is better, and HE GETS TO GO OUTSIDE! And of course the weather is much warmer and sunnier down there. So his spirits have been raised significantly. Apparently the difference is that Dodge County was an actual County Jail that hosts immigration detainees, so it was much stricter. Pine Prairie is a former prison that was closed and sold to the federal government to use strictly as an ICE detention facility, so most of the people who are in there aren't exactly criminals like you would find in a county jail.
My attorney also was able to give me the info of one of her colleague's clients. He is in pretty much the same situation as David--applied for his U-Visa, has been in custody since August, got transferred to Pine Prairie about a week before David did. So I was able to give his name to David to see if he was able to find him in there. My attorney also gave me his wife's cell phone number and said that his wife told me to feel free to reach out. I finally did today, because David needed a little more info to be able to find her husband (what color he was wearing, what section he was in, etc). So we talked quite a bit by text message. She was incredibly nice and we exchanged a lot of information about each other's cases and what she had learned from her husband about what others were saying in there. Unfortunately I had to leave for work, but she says she's going to call me tomorrow. I have a million more questions for her as I'm sure she has for me. We are both extremely frustrated with how long this is all taking, so it's a breath of fresh air to have someone who is in pretty much the same situation as me to be able to talk to and relate to!!
The one thing that really stuck out to me, and was like a "WHOA" moment, was that she said she went to visit her husband last weekend. And she told me THEY ALLOW CONTACT THERE!! When I went to visit David in Dodge Co, it was behind glass and we had to talk through a phone. Apparently at Pine Prairie, contact visits ARE allowed (contrary to what the ICE website says). She said they could hug, kiss, he could hold the kids, etc. And that moment right there was a GAME-CHANGER. I pretty much made up my mind that, despite the 13-14 hour drive, I was going to visit David no matter what. If you tell me I have two straight hours with him, for two days in a row (she said she was able to visit BOTH Saturday and Sunday), AND I'm allowed to hug him and kiss him and touch him and hold his hand for the first time in over eight months?! UM YEAH. A 14-hour drive is NOTHING. I need that, so, so bad. And I'm sure he does too.
So now all I can think about is this visit. I've already got a tentative plan in the works--a couple people were very quick to offer to road-trip down there with me, so we're working on it--but it's going to happen no matter what. I'm hoping we can make it work for the last weekend in April, so we'll see. I was trying to be optimistic that he would be released by mid-April, but now talking to this woman, it seems like her husband is a couple weeks ahead of David as far as the application process. So maybe whatever happens with his case could be a good timeline of what will happen with David's case. Like, if they reach a decision with this guy's case, we should expect one a couple weeks after that. But it depends on her timeline too, like when she received their RFE and submitted the documents and all that, compared with when we did. But that will be information I'll get from her when I talk to her on the phone, hopefully.
But yeah, when she said they allowed contact, I instantly started weighing my possibilities for going down there. It's so crazy, like at first when I thought it was gonna be the same (no-contact visits) I was like yeah....I can't justify that drive, and/or taking off work just to go see him behind a freaking glass wall. I can write to him and talk to him on the phone and save the money I'd waste on traveling. But when you are told that you have the chance to hug, kiss, hold, touch, and be right next to the person you're in love with, when you haven't had that for 8+ months (which is how long it will be by the time I do see him), it's almost like--what WOULDN'T I give for that opportunity!! I talked to him a bit about it today. He said he would love to see me of course, but I know he's worried about me driving so far. But I'm not going to do it alone. And like I've said eight million times today--IT WOULD ALL BE WORTH IT, just to give him the biggest hug ever and kiss his lips and touch his face and hold his hand. All things I have been so desperate to be able to do since August, and now I'm being told I'm allowed to do them?!
I would drive halfway around the world for that chance.
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