By Mahlieli Bothi
March 16, 2023
Tucson, AZ – The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project hosted the Santa Clara Law Student Group from March 13 – 16, 2023. During the week, students learned about the Detention Action Response Team (DART), toured the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) facility with the Border Action Team (BAT) in Sonora, Mexico, and observed “Know Your Rights” presentations by the FIRRP Staff at the Florence Correctional Center (FCC) and Florence Service Processing Center (SPC) in Florence, Arizona.
For the final day, the Santa Clara group was escorted to the Eloy Immigration Court inside the Eloy Detention Center to observe Immigration Court hearings. During the week, students had been to other detention centers and saw the differences between government-run facilities and private prisons owned and operated by CoreCivic. We were impacted by the detention centers and the environment surrounding them.
As the group traveled from Tucson to Eloy and Florence, for miles there was nothing but cacti, dirt, and road. The detention centers seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, completely surrounded by land owned by CoreCivic, allowing for the centers to be the only thing there. At the centers, we had the opportunity to interact with some of the individuals who were detained, as well as those who were waiting to meet with the Florence Project team. One of these individuals said: “[t]he feeling of isolation is overwhelming, knowing that there is nobody out there and that nobody is coming….[it] makes you give up sometimes.”
At the Eloy Immigration Court, students observed the morning hearings. One group saw how a man from Uzbekistan, whose primary language was Uzbek, was not granted an interpreter for his hearing. He was then provided an interpreter who spoke Russian, as he had identified this as another language he could use. Some students questioned whether this would have any effect on his understanding of the immigration process and the decisions he would make regarding his hearing. This situation showed us how representation of different backgrounds and languages continues to be extremely important in the legal sphere.
We learned about bond hearings and removal proceedings, as well as how to identify issues with asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. At the conclusion of the day, we reflected on the trip and what impacted us the most. For some, the trip reminded them of the reason they came to law school. “As a student taking mostly bar courses, your light can dim and the motivation to continue in your studies slightly lessens,” said one law student, “but this trip reminds us of why we are interested in the law, specifically immigration, and why we work hard to be lawyers who lead and who aim to serve others.”
About the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project: The Florence Project is the largest organization in Arizona providing free legal and social services to detained immigrants and people facing deportation.