
My Yoder ancestors immigrated to the United States in the 1700’s and settled in Ohio. I know very little about their immigration story, or what motivated them to leave home. The people I visit at Clay County Jail, who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have come for a variety of reasons. Some of them, like many of our European ancestors, came here looking for opportunity, but many have come fleeing violence in their home countries. S. left Congo after she was kidnapped and beaten and threatened with death if she did not leave. M. left Honduras after five of his brothers were murdered by drug-trafficking gangs. H. fled political violence in Iraq. Some were detained after committing a crime, but over 60% of ICE detainees have no criminal charges.
Indiana AID (Assistance to Immigrants in Detention) was started by three people, one of whom was Shalom Mennonite Church’s pastor Brian Bither. While Indiana AID extends beyond Shalom, Shalom has become its fiscal sponsor and a number of people at Shalom support it financially. Three of us at Shalom are regularly involved in the work of Indiana AID.
Once a month we visit Clay County Jail and are allowed to go into some of the eight cell blocks (each housing up to 32 detainees) to visit and to lead a Bible study. We visit some of the detainees weekly by video call on the jail’s communication system. We order books upon request; most of the requests are for Bibles, but we also order fiction, romance, history, immigration law, or whatever the detainees request that is paperback and not too expensive. As funds permit, we offer a little assistance with commissary, which allows detained people to buy stamps and envelopes or ibuprofen or socks as well as to supplement their meals. We help connect people with resources like the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Immigration Bond Fund. Sometimes we send messages to family members or attend virtual court. We send out a newsletter every few months that includes information on immigration legislation, stories of people in detention (either first-person or summarized by a volunteer), and sometimes poetry or art from detainees.
When we started this work there were about 50 people detained by ICE. Clay County Jail then built a new wing just for ICE detainees, which now houses about 250 detainees. In addition to the Latin American folks there are immigrants from India, Rwanda, Ireland, France, Haiti, Burma, Egypt, Tanzania, Poland, and more. We can’t keep up with the work and would love to have more volunteers join us. Since we do video visits remotely, anyone with a computer could join in the work. People with languages other than English are especially invited, but English is useful too.
To read our newsletter https://www.indianaaid.org/newsletter. Visit our website at https://www.indianaaid.org/ to learn more about us, to volunteer, to contact us, and to donate.
The work can be rewarding but can sometimes be wrenching. Please pray for us as volunteers and for the many people who are detained simply because of where they were born.
Submitted by Martha Yoder Maust, Shalom Mennonite Church