“In 1986 Barb Dawson asked me to go to Oakdale, LA, to minister in a new immigration detention center. The government had just opened it as a fully equipped deportation processing center with landing strips, helipads and judges for Central Americans crossing the border with Mexico. This was at the height of the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. I spent many hours hearing the same or similar stories from civilians being tortured or threatened if they did not fight on one side or the other. One common question was “Why do we see US tanks over there?” All I could do was cry and pray with them. I had no answers. Many rscj communities sent bond money for people to join their families in the USA. Eventually, the US government scattered the Central Americans to jails all over Louisiana and put Cubans there (when) Fidel Castro emptied prisons and mental institutions. The Mariel Boat Lift began and folks were sent to Oakdale, LA and Atlanta. By December, detainees were so angry with their treatment they rioted and burned the facility. I do not know what happened to those people.”
Relationship to the Society:
RSCJ
