Today was Day 124 of the witness at the massive detention center in Homestead, Florida. But for all but one of our Western Massachusetts affinity group, it was Day One. Joan Epstein had been here a few months ago, and she sparked the rest of us (directly or indirectly) to get involved and come down.
We were all quite impressed with the work being done here, and gratified to make visual contact with some of the teens during their soccer breaks. I am glad they can see their supporters, and some thanked us with waves. This involved standing on ladders so we could see and be seen despite the high fences.
We also made visual and verbal contact with many employees coming and going, many of whom were quite supportive despite guilt-inducing signs.
Betty had a conversation with one employee where she acknowledged that it’s hard to take a job that’s not in alignment with your values, but we understand that sometimes people don’t see other choices.
And a Homeland Security officer who was a regular stopped by to assure us newcomers that he was there if we needed any help. The witness project has asked him to facilitate the delivery of more than 3000 letters from teens around the country to the imprisoned ones, and he has agreed, as long as there’s enough time to scan them for illegal items.
Our group is likely to help in this project, by participating in scanning digital copies with our phones, so there’s documentation of what gets turned in.
Here are some pictures from our first day.
