Sharing tears and prayers at a New Mexico detention center

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On November 18 I joined a group of colleagues from our ELCA Churchwide offices and several of our pastors from El Paso to visit the Detention Center for Women and Children in Artesia, New Mexico. The facility consists of temporary buildings that serve as sleeping quarters, a dining hall, a school, a dispensary, and a variety of meeting rooms.

The confined grounds were stark and barren. Up to 500 women and children are in residence, held as they await a long-distance hearing with a Denver-based judge who determines whether they are eligible to pay a bond and be released. Those released are permitted to join their family members already residing in the US as they wait for an opportunity to make their case for permanent asylum. We met any number of women who were still in custody with their children because they and their families did not have the money to pay the bond, which could range from a low of $1,500 per family member to as high as $20,000.

At the end of our tour, we spoke with several groups of the detained women. We heard the stories of why they had fled their countries of origin, mostly in Central America. The trauma from which they had escaped came to the surface quickly, as did the additional trauma of being incarcerated in the country to which they had fled for help. We prayed together amid our shared tears. 

As we left the facility, we learned it would be closing at the end of December. We began to celebrate: there are far more humane ways to treat women and children waiting an asylum hearing than to incarcerate them—and our country has used these alternative methods freely in the past. The detention of these particular women and children was random; others who arrived at the border to request asylum were released into the custody of family members in the US and given a date and place to appear for their hearing. 

Our joy was short-lived as we realized that many of these women faced the additional trauma of being transported to a new and larger detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Artesia would come to an end; the story of their trauma would not.

I urge you to join me in making an appeal to our elected officials to release all the remaining women and children detained in Artesia, and to advocate for an end to the detention of women and children who come to our country in search of asylum. The New Mexico Conference of Churches has prepared information for contacting NM governmental officials. The same foundational information can be used for contacting officials in other states. 

Yours in Faith

Bishop Jim Gonia

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