“'We were calm. The only thing I said was to not separate me from my son because that was what I was most scared of,' Jonathan said.
Neither of them knew where the other one went.
'I arrived in Adelanto, and they wouldn’t tell me where (Joani) was at all. Even if I asked, they wouldn’t tell me,' he said.
While at the center, Jonathan faced delays in accessing medical care and faced mistreatment before he was released in May, he said.
'Once a week they would feed us chicken, but what really hurt is that they would throw it in your face,' he said. 'They did not let us eat sometimes, or if you wanted a second helping, they also would not let you, they grabbed you and threw the plate.'
'It was so humiliating.'
He also recalled getting sick, suffering from debilitating headaches and asking for medical care but faced delays in getting seen.
'They did not pay attention to me, they did not attend to me,' Jonathan said. 'Other detainees would tell me, ‘Here, you have to be dying for them to pay attention.’'
He told his lawyer about the repeated lack of medical care, and the lawyer called the center. Jonathan said he was seen quickly after his lawyer called.
'When I arrived at the medic, he was annoyed because I had called my lawyer,' Jonathan said.
After his medical appointment, Jonathan said he was led to a small, cold room with a bed. He believed he was taken there as punishment for calling his lawyer.
'It was so cold because they change the temperature to cold, and they don’t give you a blanket, nothing,' he said.
He said this made him fearful of telling his lawyer anything else over the phone because the calls were recorded and monitored.
He said he never gave up on being reunited with his family. He recalled thinking, 'I have to endure this and keep fighting.'
Joani said it took two days to travel to Dilley, and Kaleth was in distress the whole time.
'I couldn’t count how many (moms and kids) there were because there were too many,' she said."
~ Pricila Flores
"Santa Barbara Family Speaks Out After Being Separated, Detained by ICE
The family of three are asylum seekers who were separated across state lines in March after showing up to an immigration appointment"
https://www.noozhawk.com/santa-barbara-family-speaks-out-after-being-separated-detained-by-ice/
