Day Seven:  Today, I am in the town of Artesia, holding down the fort at the AILA Defense Team's office.  This allows the only two people who are employed to do this work to have a couple days away for the first time in NINE WEEKS!

A bit about the operation here - yes, only two employees; one lawyer and one paralegal.  The lawyer came to volunteer and couldn't leave.  It was a few days before I understood that what AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) set up is an instant law firm, run out of a two-room office in town, with daily excursions to a metal, temporary building at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center or "fleetsie" to us).  They represent nearly all of the appr. 600 women and children there, so this is a large practice to have built over a few months.

These are very complicated cases, and needless to say, the stakes are high.  AILA has established a network of people all over the country who do some of the work that can be done from afar; researching, writing, even physically delivering documents to the courts nearly every day.  The team here OTG (on the ground - again, lots of jargon here!) ranges from 8-15, depending upon the week and the day of the week, with people coming and going daily, though most attorneys work here from Sunday night's orientation until Thursday or Friday.  (I am the only person here this weekend.)

I am so impressed with the attorneys who can arrive on Sunday and step right into court in proceedings of a sort they've never done, at 8:00 Monday morning.  I did not do that!  The skill and passion is beyond words.  Unlike me, almost all of them gave up a week's income to be here.  How many people would do that?

The days (and but for this weekend, I mean seven days a week) begin at 6:45 at FLETC.  We represent the families in court in one hut, as I've come to call them, and meet with others in another hut.  There, about 6 meetings are happening at any given time, an arm's length apart.  We have a 4' wide "alley" along one wall with a long narrow table against the wall, set apart by room dividers.  When behind that wall, we may use our phones and eat and drink, but nowhere else.  Our scanner and printer are in constant use, each person for herself.  Other than a quick trip around the corner to go to the bathroom, we must be escorted around the facility.  However, the only places we go are to "court" or to the Asylum Officer's hut.  One day I followed an officer into another building where he was looking for a women we needed to find for a proceeding and the officer in charge of that building really let me have it!

We finish our time at FLETC around 5:00, sometimes as late as 7:00, grab something to eat and go to our daily Big Table Meeting, the only time we are all together to talk about the day's issues.  When the meeting ends, typically around 10:00, each attorney has several motions to prepare before calling it a day, resulting in another hour or two or three.

I am thrilled that our two fearless leaders have the opportunity to have a much deserved break.  Can you even imagine living that life for nine weeks straight?