By Omar Hassan:

The following is an excerpt from an article in the Fall 2011 JustSouth Quarterly from the Jesuit Social Research Institute.

Omar Hassan came to the United States from Somalia in 1996 to apply for political asylum. After an immigration judge denied his application, his case was on appeal for 14 years. During that time, he worked 12-hour days as an electronic technician in Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona. In October 2010, he was suddenly picked up and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for five months. Since his release, he has been living at Casa Marianella, a homeless shelter for immigrants in Austin, Texas, begun in 1986 by the Austin Interfaith Task Force for Central America.On April 18, 2011, Omar Hassan provided Sue Weishar, JSRI Migration Specialist, a detailed account of his experience in ICE detention and how his detention senselessly derailed the life he had built for himself in the U.S. Excerpts from that interview follow:

A Bad Feeling

I am one of those people who have what you call a sixth sense. When I went to work on Thursday, October 1, 2010, I was feeling that something was not right for some reason. At a quarter to two my boss and two guys walked into my work area. My boss said, “Omar, these guys want to talk to you.” They were ICE agents. They said, “We are going to have to take you to the station so we can talk more.” I knew that my work permit had not expired and that I was not illegal in the system. I thought they were just going to chit chat with me. They took me to downtown Phoenix and I sat in a little interrogation room. One of the ICE agents said,“You know you lost your last appeal in November 2009, so now we automatically have to detain you.” I said, “OK, why don’t you give me a couple of days so I can take care of my apartment and my car?” The other one said, “I don’t think so. You ain’t going nowhere today.” I told them I have a car sitting at work and I have an apartment with all my things in it. Their response was, “We Don't care about that; we care about you.” So they took me and searched me. Then they put me in a cell, with some people from South America. They said we were all going to Florence. 

Florence, Arizona

I had never heard of Florence before in my life. In the immigration area there, they strip searched me. They took my clothes and gave me a green uniform. Now I have flip flops with no socks and am sitting in a cement room with cement benches,not even a chair. I was there for 24 hours and by the end about 30people were in that room. At five o’clock in the morning they drove us to another place in Florence where they held me and about 300 people for two days. They took me to the medical area to give out blood and urine. Then I had to take a shower and put on some powder so you don’t get an infection.

Another Planet

I had never been in detention in my life. I had never even been in a police station in my life. I am scared. They don’t tell you what they are doing. You feel that you are at the mercy of someone else’s hand. It makes you feel like someone from another planet.There was no humanity in it. There was no nothing in it. For two days they kept moving me around. I don’t have a criminal record. I don’t even have a traffic ticket. And all I did since I came here was work. If this is happening to someone like me, it can happen to anyone else.After the two days in the immigration area they shackled me and took me to another area in Florence, a private detention center for immigration only. When I walked in my cell the guard said, “Here is your room you are sharing with seven other people,and that’s your bed.” He gave me a booklet and that was it. I am too tired—I haven’t slept for three days—so I slept till around 11o’clock the next day. In detention the day pretty much revolves around the meals served, with lock downs three to five times a day to check for food and drugs. During free time you can watch TV, buy stuff at the commissary, take a shower, or talk to the other guys. I used to take three showers a day—why not? Read the full article online here (article starts on page 6).

This article is from the Jesuit Social Research Institute, JustSouth Quarterly, Fall 2011, which is available online here.