Today we share with you one more story of the recipients from our Families Reunidas Bond Program, Yafeu. He is a fairly young man, however he walks with a walker as the result of a viscous attack that forced him to flee his home country. He is an openly gay asylum-seeker from Africa, who had a life partner who he loved very much, and that life partner was tragically beat to death in front of him in the same attack that left him disabled.
Our country’s unjust policies kept this disabled asylum-seeker, who is currently in need of surgery for his injuries, incarcerated in Otay Detention Center for four and a half months. It is a known fact that the LGBTQ+ community faces additional persecution inside detention, from both the guards and the people they are detained with.Thankfully this man found a friend inside detention, who provided much needed support and whom we also freed from detention (more on him on our next post!). We know we cannot make up for all that he has lost in Ghana, and everything he has been subject to in the United States. His freedom, humanity, and small moments of happiness are what we CAN provide for him.
His story, although difficult for us to share and listen to, is incredibly inspirational. Yafeu wanted his story to be shared, and we are in awe of his bravery and resilience. It is a continuous honor to work with Minority Humanitarian Foundation, and together we will continue to share the journey of all of the amazing individuals we have been able to help. We have to continue to raise our voices, we have to keep being proactive against the persecution of black and brown folks in America, for Yafeu, for all of us!
Let this story serve as a reminder of all the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members waiting in such conditions in detention, simply for seeking a place in this country. Yafeu represents so many others being subject to racist and inhumane policies, and we must not forget the urgency of getting everyone we can out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Again, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue to help us make sure our folks are #FreeAndAlive.
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Our amazing team took to our communities once more this past weekend to conduct Day Laborer Outreach! We are so excited to be back and show our day laborers some love and support, and remind them how important they are in our community, especially in our current state of the world. Like the rest of our programs, we are always concerned with the safety of our migrant community first. We applied the practices of social distancing and used a team of only experienced leaders to ensure we help our day laborers, but we don’t expose such a valuable and important population. A huge thank you to Osvaldo and the team for his leadership and commitment, in not only putting together care packages, but acknowledging and respecting our laborers stories and importance in our community!

This week we had the honor to collaborate with Freedom for Immigrants, and together, we were able to bond two more individuals from Eritrea out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center through our Familias Reunidas Bond Program. We are proud to work alongside organizations that share our values, and promote a culture of love as we do. We are also proud to have now freed over 30 people from detention!
Tesfay and Isaias were both released together the same day, and the fellow countrymen are excited to begin their new life in Oakland surrounded by a community that supports them! The two asylum seekers are so happy and thankful to be free after having spent four months in detention. Their spirits and positivity prove to us the resilience and strength of our beloved immigrant community. We celebrate this as a huge victory amidst such trying times, and we are hopeful to continue getting more and more people released. Every day spent inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center is one day too many!
Let their stories serve as a reminder of all the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members waiting in such conditions in detention, simply for seeking a place or a part in this country. Tesfay an Isaias represent so many others being subject to racist and inhumane policies, and we must not forget the urgency of getting everyone we can out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. This pandemic continues to be unforgiving, and we will not allow any more lives lost. Again, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue to help us make sure our folks are #FreeAndAlive.

Today, we share with you the story of the most recent recipient of our bond program, Jack. Five months after being detained, this 25 year old migrant is finally out of the horrific conditions of detention. Jack fled his home country of Haiti in hopes of a better life and opportunity only to end up at the nightmare that is the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
Inside the detention center, the very place where Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia unjustly lost his life, Jack contracted COVID-19. He became very ill and faced a very severe case of coronavirus, and yet all that was done for him was to be put in isolation, and given crackers by an officer. Thankfully our recipient has made a recovery and is able to self quarantine now. Although heart wrenching, this story reminds us of the strength and resilience of our migrant folks, and deserves to be shared to shed light on how brown and black people are being treated so unjustly during a pandemic.
Let this story serve as a reminder of all the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members waiting in such conditions in detention, simply for seeking a place or a part in this country. Jack represents so many others being subject to racist and inhumane policies, and we must not forget the urgency of getting everyone we can out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. This pandemic continues to be unforgiving, and we will not allow any more lives lost. Again, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue to help us make sure our folks are #FreeAndAlive.