How is Elder Doing?

Elder has spent almost 10 months in detention. He has missed almost a full year of school at this point; the birth of his nephew; his normal life as a teenager. And yet, he continues to have faith.

Inside Winn, the conditions are not safe or sanitary. Several men have started a hunger strike due to the conditions they must bear. This situation makes the environment even more intense than it already is. It is no place for a high school student. It is not unusual for the phones to be out of order; on weekends video calls are not available. Trying to stay in touch with Elder while the hunger strike is developing has been impossible due to these outages. These kinds of challenges make it unnecessarily difficult for family and friends trying to stay in contact with detained loved ones.

Elder still has not been seen by an orthodontist. That means for almost 10 months, this high school student has been denied medical care.

The following is from Pam, one of Elder’s advocates:

“Winn Correctional Center allows family and friends to host picnics for detained immigrants several times a month. They are the only detention center in Louisiana that allows that. I am privileged to volunteer with a group of friends who host picnics every month.

The men we host love the picnics! Not only is it an opportunity for them to be outdoors for a few hours, but they get delicious, fresh food. We hear from everyone how bad the food is a Winn and how they never get fresh vegetables or fruit. We’ve also been told the portions are child size so the men are always hungry. Many have lost a lot of weight.

The detention center has a rule about the picnics: detainees cannot take any food back inside. Whatever is served at the picnic must be consumed at the picnic.

I recently learned that a young detainee was caught attempting to take food back inside. He hid the food somewhere on his body. The guard discovered the food as he was returning to his cell. The young man knew the rule, but was willing to break it out of desperation for good food — a need we all have!

I learned about this situation when I tried to visit him this week. It was explained to me that he is not allowed to attend anymore picnics, and cannot have any visitors — ever!  When I expressed my dismay over the harshness of the consequence, I was told there is zero tolerance for breaking the rules.

In my opinion, this was a minor offense and the punishment does not match the “crime”!  But, as we know, cruelty is the point!

It is my fervent hope that Winn will reconsider this decision and JC will be allowed visitation again.”

Did You Know?

Pam, a member of LaAID, had a visit yesterday with detainees at Winn. She was halfway home when she received a phone call that a detainee was to be released and she had to turn around to pick him up. ICE had made a mistake – the locator system showed the detainee was in Denver. ICE even made a call to the man’s lawyer and family that he was in Denver. In truth, the man was in Louisiana at Winn. The man’s family is from New Jersey. Thankfully Pam was able to pick this man up; but it is hard to ignore what seems to be a pure lack of consideration or process from ICE for the people dealing with the system. Detained or not, we are still talking about human beings.

When Elder came to America, he was an unaccompanied minor and later received SIJS. SIJS is specifically for youth 21 and younger who are abused and/or abandoned. According to Austin Kocher, “69% of unaccompanied children’s immigration court cases completed in the first eight months of 2026 ended in a removal order, compared with an average of just 28 percent from 2021 through 2024.

Immigration courts are ordering unaccompanied children removed at a sharply higher rate. This is no great surprise to people following this story, but it reflects the ongoing betrayal of even the most basic commitment to the dignity and well-being of children. Acacia Center for Justice’s preliminary estimates put the share at 69 percent so far this year, up from 48 percent in 2025. Children without a lawyer fared worst, with 88 percent ordered removed in 2026, compared with 39 percent of children who had representation at some point. Acacia’s federal contract to provide legal services to these children ended on July 31.”  Source: https://ow.ly/8EcO50ZZ1rL

Community in Action

Connected Americans have joined the effort to make as many calls as possible to Rep. Aderholt’s office. They have challenged the community to make 1,000 calls! Additionally they are offering virtual sessions if you need more details. We are so grateful for their support! We must continue to ensure Rep. Aderholt’s office keeps Elder a priority. Now that Elder has had both his bond and his deferred action denied, he is at a much higher risk of deportation. We need Aderholt and Sec. Mullin to exercise their discretion to let Elder go home.

Sign up for a slot and access a call script and directions here: https://tinyurl.com/FreeElderPhoneBankSignUp

Nick Valencia invited several of Team Elder members onto his show Nick Valencia News yesterday. Nick has been reporting on Elder’s story for months now, and his ongoing support has been critical in allowing us to reach as many people as we have. As Nick says: Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo – Only the people save the people. Click here to view Team Elder (1 hour, 23 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owdDviw5cVA

One of the most impactful ways to help Elder, and everyone affected by our immigration system, is to make sure you plan to vote in the midterms. The visa backlog that keeps Elder waiting, the funding that keeps him detained, and the question of whether an eighteen-year-old who entered as an unaccompanied child should be provided the protections of a child or treated like an adult are all decided by the people we elect.

One place to start is vote.org to check your voter registration or register to vote. If you don’t have a plan, partner with family or a friend. If you have no one to turn to: try asking the online community that has grown around Elder. Post in our comments – there are so many good people converging online around Elder. We need to help each other change the system.

In Solidarity,

Team Elder