A Son Attempts to Visit His Mother at the Border

From letters sent to FFI from Jose Cesar Salinas from the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Unfortunately, Jose's current whereabouts are unknown.

I would like to begin by how I ended up in this place. Last year after Mother's Day, I made plans to see my old mom through the border fence at Imperial Beach at a park I know migrants use to see their families. Unluckily, Border Patrol decided to question my status and that's how I ended up here.

In this place me and many others are treated in a way no human being should be treated. The food is horrible. We know it is food but many times we have no idea what they are serving us. They have been serving me the exact same thing for 13 months because I have a special (renal) diet. Unsalted soy bean meat, white rice, lettuce, boiled carrots and bread every day for lunch and dinner. For breakfast it is oatmeal, butter and bread, the same things over and over.

Some of the officers treat us like military recruits. The rooms or cells are freezing, and the faucet is where the toilet is. Some of the officers take great advantage of their position to torture us in many little ways, like leaving us locked in our cells until they are done opening everyone else's, taking forever, and sometimes ignoring our requests. They use us to take care of a lot of duties like laundry, kitchen, cleaning, among other things for $1.00 a day.

I fell in a transportation van and suffered an injury to my back. The officers who drove me to dialysis didn't assist me in getting in or out of the van, and as a result I fell getting off the van. I reported it to the supervisor but nothing was done. To this company, their employees never do anything wrong, and when we file a grievance report it never gets anywhere.

Dear friend, this is only a little of what has happened to me. I've been in detention for 13 months fighting to stay in this wonderful country. I have been dealing with psychological torture from some officers here. It's like they wish we will desist in fighting our case and leave, but they don't care or understand that going back to our countries would mean would mean getting killed by criminals for some of us. I know if I was returned to my country I will die in a matter of days, maybe two weeks, [without] dialysis. It seems that nothing I say or do is good enough for the judges. All they know is deportation, and that's it. Hopefully my petition for a U-Visa gets approved. I am going to ask for a bond hearing in the next month.

Please share my story and if you want more details do not hesitate to contact me.

GRACIAS.