2008 Woodie Awards
Student pays visit to detainees
Julie Williams
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: News
"[The detainees were] telling him addresses and phone numbers he needed to memorize because we couldn't really take anything in there," she said.
Reavey said she talked to three individuals during her visit, all of whom are generally very happy people.
"The first one I saw, he really didn't want to talk or anything," she said. "He just kind of sat there and was like, you know, 'I'm so glad you came.'"
Another of Reavey's acquaintances uttered a line in Spanish that stuck in her mind: You really know your friends when they visit you in jail.
Reavey said the third man she spoke with was attempting to maintain a cheerful faƧade by telling jokes and even said he wanted to invite her to his brother's wedding.
"He was trying to be funny, and for the most part he was, but you could still tell that it was affecting him too," she said.
Reavey said she thinks the detainees are destined to go back to Juarez, Mexico, a border town, and that she thought they were going to be sent back during the weekend. She said some live in other towns near the U.S.-Mexico border, but others are from areas like Vera Cruz and Michoacan, which are farther south in Mexico.
"So that means once they get into Mexico, they still have to make it halfway across Mexico," she said.
Reavey said that from this point, there is not much else she can do to help the detainees because the friend she visited with was in better contact with them and knows what to do now. She said if he needs help, he will ask other people who know them.
Reavey said she thinks it was unlucky for some of the El Vaquero employees who were arrested as a result of the raid March 28, especially because some of the employees arrested are normally late to work and might have avoided the situation if they had not been on time that day. She said another just stumbled into the situation.
"One person actually doesn't even work [at El Vaquero]," Reavey said. "He just went with his brother."
The Montgomery County jail referred the Index to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Louis, which did not release specific information about the detainees' current status.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who declined to give his name said the individuals arrested would have had a few different options upon arriving at the jail.
"They are made aware of their rights, and they have the option of asking a judge to return to their country as quick as possible, or they have the option of going to see a judge and pleading their case and trying to stay," the official said.
Reavey said she talked to three individuals during her visit, all of whom are generally very happy people.
"The first one I saw, he really didn't want to talk or anything," she said. "He just kind of sat there and was like, you know, 'I'm so glad you came.'"
Another of Reavey's acquaintances uttered a line in Spanish that stuck in her mind: You really know your friends when they visit you in jail.
Reavey said the third man she spoke with was attempting to maintain a cheerful faƧade by telling jokes and even said he wanted to invite her to his brother's wedding.
"He was trying to be funny, and for the most part he was, but you could still tell that it was affecting him too," she said.
Reavey said she thinks the detainees are destined to go back to Juarez, Mexico, a border town, and that she thought they were going to be sent back during the weekend. She said some live in other towns near the U.S.-Mexico border, but others are from areas like Vera Cruz and Michoacan, which are farther south in Mexico.
"So that means once they get into Mexico, they still have to make it halfway across Mexico," she said.
Reavey said that from this point, there is not much else she can do to help the detainees because the friend she visited with was in better contact with them and knows what to do now. She said if he needs help, he will ask other people who know them.
Reavey said she thinks it was unlucky for some of the El Vaquero employees who were arrested as a result of the raid March 28, especially because some of the employees arrested are normally late to work and might have avoided the situation if they had not been on time that day. She said another just stumbled into the situation.
"One person actually doesn't even work [at El Vaquero]," Reavey said. "He just went with his brother."
The Montgomery County jail referred the Index to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Louis, which did not release specific information about the detainees' current status.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who declined to give his name said the individuals arrested would have had a few different options upon arriving at the jail.
"They are made aware of their rights, and they have the option of asking a judge to return to their country as quick as possible, or they have the option of going to see a judge and pleading their case and trying to stay," the official said.
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