Kicked out of their world

Reflections on the fate of immigrants post-incarceration

Immigrants cannot make mistakes. When they do, they are kicked out of their world.

Even when they have spent the majority of their lives in the United States of America. Even those brought to the country as young children.

Here’s what happens when an immigrant serves time in prison. The punishment of incarceration becomes only the first layer of a lifelong struggle. Upon release from prison, the immigrant will likely be transferred to a detention facility pending deportation. They will be ripped away once again from loved ones and sent to a country about which they know little, maybe even nothing.

When you get to know incarcerated individuals facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation orders after they have learned from their mistakes, paid their debts and made amends, it becomes much easier to understand why their resident status should be evaluated and treated on an individual basis. Let me introduce you to a few of these individuals here at CCWF.

I was born and raised in Bulgaria, a small country in Southeastern Europe with a population half of Los Angeles. I grew up in communism, where everyone was “equal” yet no one felt the equality. Safety and opportunities were not exactly the words one might use to describe that environment; however, not knowing better, I didn’t do better. I came to the United States of America when I was 18 years old with hope for a better life and opportunities. God knows I did not make good choices in life with respect to life planning and had my fair share of disappointments, obstacles, and poor decision-making. But never in a million years did I think I would go to prison.

However… here I am. Now, I am 46 years old and have been in America longer than I have been in my native country. Even though my biological family is still in Bulgaria, my chosen family is in America and the thought of being deported is overwhelming.

I have not been in Bulgaria for more than 20 years. The environment I will be thrown into is one I no longer understand or can relate to. I left feeling like a throwaway of society. Going back to a country where I know I will be judged, targeted, and spoken down to by my community. I will go back with a heart of shame, exposing my relatives to the town gossip in a disgraceful way once again. I will hear whispers, “The embarrassment has returned to town.” Having an ICE hold leaves me so uncertain of my future.

Ursula Gomez is another individual who shares my fate, through her journey to the U.S. took a different path than mine.

“I came to the United States of America when I was 5 years old,” Ursula Gomez told me before she left CCWF, “and having an ICE hold is stopping me from having a concrete plan upon release. It does not allow me to put things in motion, so I can move forward with my plan. I am not treated as a citizen and I feel there is something wrong with me as a person. I have no family members in Mexico.”

Ursula will be thrown into an environment she knows nothing about, without any family ties and support, without language skills, left feeling like a throwaway of society, a society in which she lived most of her life. I fear for her being completely lost, becoming depresse and possibly suicidal from the lack of support. Not having family, she could be subject to sex trafficking.

Simaima Ohuafi was even younger when her parents immigrated to the US from the Tongan islands—18 months old. Due to her incarceration, now she faces deportation.

“I consider myself an American,” Simaima said, “however, I feel disposable, disregarded, and helpless, because America is giving up on me. My sanity, stability, and safety are in shambles. Both my parents died in America as hard working citizens. If deported, I will have no resources, no support system, nowhere to live, and I can never visit my parents’ graves.”

She fears she will be shunned, judged and culturally rejected — targeted for embarrassing the Tongan culture and possibly killed.

Our sorrow is not just for the ones who are ripped away but for the community they leave behind.

“When one of our peers is deported,” Ohuafi said, “it feels like we have lost a family member to a battle we’ve all been fighting.”

Our community members not facing deportation also feel the loss strongly too. My friend and colleague at the Paper Trail, Amber Bray, said it well:

“As women, we make emotional attachments and connections with our peers. We come to love one another like family. The fact that so many of our loved ones are facing deportation — many to a country they have never known—is tragic and distressing. We continue to fight for them because they matter to us and we don’t want to see them removed from communities of which they are vital parts.”

Prison time should be enough punishment. All individuals can learn from their mistakes, walk out rehabilitated, and be a productive member of society. And since the U.S. has always been considered the land of the free and is a nation created from diverse people that have immigrated from all over the world, we must restore humanity and American values to our immigration system.

This is an especially important issue for California to consider and even to pioneer because, according to the Public Policy Institute 10.4 million immigrants—23% of the foreign — born population nationwide—call California home.

A plan for the incarcerated immigrants should be included as part of immigration reform, so they are offered a fair chance to reenter society an reunite with their family members while respecting the rehabilitation they achieved while incarcerated. The plan should be a combination of Pro-American and Pro-Immigrant. We should recognize that being a nation of laws goes hand in hand with being a nation of immigrants.

Considering the challenges we face, we as a community need to write or call our senators and/or representatives to express the impact some of the immigration laws have on our community and express what effective immigration reform looks like.

The goodness we can bring is why America should give formerly incarcerated non-citizens a second chance too.