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December 17, 2002

Host: Michael Grant
Topics:
A look at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project

Michael: Tonight, we have a special edition of "Horizon," looking at a program making a difference in the lives of thousands of people. It is called the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. That group serves the legal needs of more than 2,000 people held at the INS detention center south of the valley in Eloy. Last year, the project received a prestigious award for nonprofit innovation, in addition to a cash prize, the award includes a documentary showcasing the program. And tonight you're going to see that documentary in its entirety. It's a look inside the legal system you probably didn't even know existed. Here is the Florence Project, Halfway Home. Enjoy.

>> (Music playing)Andrea Black: There are over 200,000 people deported by the United States every year. Most are undocumented immigrants who have just crossed the border. There are also thousands of legal residents who have lived here many years, deported because of a criminal conviction. Often they've just finished their prison sentence and they're re-arrested by INS and bussed off to a detention center to wait for deportation hearings. And they're confused. They have done their criminal time, they have completed the sentence, but now they are here in jail again. Many people don't understand that, they feel like it's double jeopardy. Our mission is to help people understand whether they have a chance to stay in the United States and, if they do, to help them prepare their case for the judge. I think part of our mission is to bear witness and be with people who go through that process. People who are there, who can explain the process to them.

>> (speaking Spanish.) Black: We go into the facility and give a presentation where we talk to people individually to see what the chances might be. After that, it's targeted services for people eligible for relief. My colleague developed a group workshop to teach people how to represent themselves in front of a judge. (speaking Spanish.)

>> Miguel Mutillo: Like the angels that come from the sky. Easy down, come down and relieves a lot of pressure. We don't have anybody here. It's just like we've been dropped. And forget about it.

>> Black: The result is that 90% of people in immigration proceedings go unrepresented due to poverty. There is no way that we are going to be able to take even one percent of the people detained. The number of people who are going through the courts in a year is astounding. Even if we took, each of us took three to four cases a month, there is no way. It's a drop in the bucket. Our goal was to empower people and give them the tools to represent themselves in their hearing. (speaking in Spanish.)

>> Ophelia Barajas: Whatever he did, I mean, he is paying for it. They want to deport him. If he is deported, we don't have any family in Mexico. We've been here for so many years already that we don't know Mexico. What is he going to do? He doesn't have friend, he doesn't have anybody. Maybe he can work, maybe he can start stealing because he doesn't have money, he doesn't have a job. There's a lot of things that can go worse than here. If he gets another chance, maybe he can start working again and being better. (Music playing)

>> Black: The big picture is pretty dismal. There are about 800 facilities where INS is detaining people around the country but a handful of groups such as ours who are able to provide services to people who are detained. One of the things we have been working on is to advocate for federal funding so programs such as ours can be replicated around the country.

>> Worker: I did 25 interviews this morning. Huge bus.

>> Worker: This the first time you've heard from him in two years? Okay, don't cry. Okay?

>> Worker: He's okay, he looks good. Now we'll work on getting him up to the rest of the family in Canada.

>> Black: It's the machinery at work. On one level and just the volume going through. You realize what's at stake for them. The treks that they have made to our borders or the lawful permanent resident, years working in the, in the fields and in our restaurants and in construction sites to sustain themself and their family and to sustain this country. Now they're faced with being exiled from their family, ripped apart. (speaking in Spanish.)

>> Judge Thomas O'Leary: The Florence project increases the efficiency in my court. That's the bottom line. I can make better decisions because I have better information and the third effect is individuals have more of an opportunity to succeed in their presentation.

>> Black: Getting access to the facility in the beginning was really quite a challenge. Our goal was to develop long term ongoing relationships with the different stakeholders. Part of that was introducing ourselves to the groups that run the facility, including corrections corporation of America which is in charge of the day-to-day management.

>> John Gluch: They come on a regular basis, the back of the institution is not something we would look forward to and it's sort of like letting the fox in the hen house.

>> Black: I have to say the first time I walked into the warden's office, he practically kicked us out in 10 minutes.

>> Gluch: It was a scary thought to have a bunch of attorneys walk into the facility.

>> Gluch: Frankly, if I had been treated by me the way she was treated by me, I would have probably left and never come back, it wouldn't have been worth the effort. She was back with a new proposal and something we could live with.

>> Black: It took months of continuous contact and phone calls and letters and many meetings to have them get to know us.

>> Gluch: They believe in what they are doing and couldn't do that job unless they really felt very deeply about it. We put enough roadblocks in their way to make it very difficult for them to do the things that they want to do but they are able to do it and accommodate us and the detainees.

>> Patricia Vroom: I feel they have made my job easier to know that at the two detention facilities in our district, people in custody are getting the help they need to insure a better process.

>> Danny Hoang: People like me from Vietnam, from Cambodia, Cuba and Laos, our countries don't have treaties with the United States. We have nowhere to be deported to. If they want to keep me indefinitely, saying I have nowhere to go they could keep me here forever. That didn't make sense. You do something wrong like I did years ago, I knew the day I would get out of prison. I did eventually. Here, I don't know, I don't know if it's tomorrow or a year from now. I guess that's the hardest part not being able to tell your family, mom, I'm coming home next month or two months from now. All you can tell her is be patient, I'll be home soon. That's the hardest part.

>> Diamond Hoang: I can guarantee that you my brother has changed. By talking to him, by writing to him, I know he has changed. After all, he is my brother. I lost a piece of me. We needed him here. He can be a lot of help to us. My mom, every time she sees me, she cries. We call everybody, no news. The Florence project, without this project, little people like my brother and those unfortunate to be stuck in that kind of area will never be seen by anybody. (speaking in Spanish.)

>> Black: It's amazing to see the transformation people go through. It's a moment of reconciliation with family members, within one's self, to realize the path they have taken that brought them to the detention and the moment they realize they can be free again, not just of detention but within themselves is really magical. (Music playing)

>> Abel: I get to see my baby. There's no way to describe it. No way can describe having loved ones close by. (Music playing)

>> Hoang: My younger brother, I think he has two kids. Married. Patricia, Andrea. I'm very happy because of you guys. I would like to say if you ever thought in your mind, if you guys were doing the right thing ever, if that doubt ever came up that you guys were doing the moral, the right thing, I have the answer today. Yeah. Everybody deserves a chance. And if we take that chance and make it a positive thing, then what you're doing not only for me, but for my family. And I am thankful that you guys were there and you guys are like my angels. And because of the Florence project, I'm here today.

>> From my mind, but thank you for your help, and we ask God bless you and God bless America. Thank you very much.