Members of Conversations with Friends (CWF) visit, write cards and letters, and provide modest commissary deposits to people in ICE detention (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Minnesota; provide ‘Dignity’ backpacks to people being deported; and safe release assistance to the relatively few people released from ICE custody.
Visitors meet with people jailed by ICE in Minnesota’s Freeborn County Adult Detention Center. They are detained by ICE in Minnesota as they await their next immigration hearing, their deportation or, if the immigration judge’s decision was appealed, the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia.
Letter writers correspond with detained individuals, committing to writing one card or letter each week. They provide friendship, compassion and hope to people jailed by ICE in Minnesota.
We provide modest commissary account deposits to those people who request financial assistance so that they can call their loved ones and/or purchase supplemental food or hygiene items in the jail.
After receiving requests from people who expect to be deported, we make ‘Dignity’ backpack drop-offs at the Whipple Federal Building that include requested clothing, e.g. jeans, shoes, shirts, etc., as well as a water bottle, hygiene and other items. The backpacks also include space for their legal documents.
Safe Release/Accompaniment volunteers help ensure that people released from the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling who do not have family or friends available to assist them have a safe place to go in the immediate hours after release. Our assistance might include providing a celebratory meal, a backpack with supplies for the journey, and/or a bus ticket and a ride to the bus station.
Through the Circle of Compassion, individuals, groups and congregations of various faith communities hold those being detained by ICE in thought and prayer. The list includes the first names (in order to maintain confidentiality) and countries of birth of each person with whom we are visiting and/or writing.
CWF 