Ron Paul

Things to Never Say to a Dealer

By Bengt Halvorson
Monday, October 29, 2007

provided by



The dealership experience can be extremely stressful, but it doesn't have to be. You could know everything there is to know about the cars you're considering, but that's only a fraction of the buying process. If you want that seductive new sedan at a good price, you're probably going to need to know what to say — and more importantly, what not to say.

Some people loathe the whole car-buying experience simply because they anticipate getting conned. A few hundred dollars isn't a big deal on the price of a luxury car, but it's the idea of smart shopping and that sense of getting a good deal that's especially important. For luxury car buyers — notoriously labeled the shrewd shoppers — a good deal is icing on the cake.

"The educated consumer is the one who will drive away with the best deal and the best experience," says Rob Gentile, director of car-buying products at Consumer Reports.

To help you take the driver's seat in the buying experience, first learn to play the game, and you might even end up doing some smooth talking of your own.


Ready, Set, Go!

1. "I'm ready to buy now."

This is an admission of weakness and an invitation for the dealer to throw out a price that's slightly below the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) to see if you'll take the bait. It shows that you're too eager and willing to consider an offer, and it also gives salespeople the advantage by allowing them to talk you up as opposed to you talking them down. But by adding some very precise parameters, you'll sound confident and strong from the start.

"Don't let them know that you're ready to buy without being very particular. If you're ready, say that you'll buy, but only under these particular conditions," says Gentile.

There are two schools on negotiating. Going into the process, Gentile reminds consumers to be wary of the dealer cost. Consumer Reports has something called wholesale price, which is the normal dealer invoice price minus all relevant rebates and incentives. Similarly, most longstanding price-information services advise buyers to research the dealer invoice, along with any relevant incentives, then make a lowball offer that's maybe just a few hundred dollars above invoice. The dealer will follow your figure with a counteroffer that then allows you to go back and forth until there is a compromise.

Conversely, a second school believes that making the first offer puts the buyer in a weak position. "When you make an offer on a car, you're digging yourself into a hole," says James "Spike" Bragg, a consumer advocate and founder of Fighting Chance, an information service for new-car buyers. "That offer will be as good as it gets. There's so much today in 'under the radar' sales incentives to dealers, you don't want to limit yourself."

According to Bragg, many of the dealer incentives today are awarded on a dealer-by-dealer basis, often handed out for meeting sales targets. Because of this, you can't pin down these incentives on a particular vehicle, and you never know which dealership might be able to provide the better price at a given time.

Bragg's method involves faxing quote requests from several different dealerships and asking them for their best bottom-line price on a particular model. His clients sometimes manage to negotiate prices well below invoice, even considering all published incentives. In this day of increased under-the-radar incentives, this method doesn't limit you to a bottom line and certainly has its merits if you're willing to put in the effort.

On ForbesAutos.com you can pursue both options. On each of our Reviews pages there is a link to detailed MSRP and invoice pricing. Also, if you go to our "Buy a Car" section, you can select a model, configure it how you like and then request a free dealer price quote.


Monthly Payment



2. "I can afford this much per month."

"Don't tell the dealer what you're willing to pay per month. This is the biggest mistake a shopper can make. Often the dealer will focus on a monthly payment scheme, insisting you are receiving a great deal, but at the end of the day you won't really know what you paid, advises Gentile.

If the dealer can get a number out of you, a common trick is to ask if you can squeeze out a slightly higher monthly payment, then raise the bottom-line price accordingly by hundreds or even thousands. Avoid this by insisting that you focus only on the purchase price. Walk away if the salesperson only wants to talk in monthly payments. Trade-in


Trade-in

3. "Yes, I have a trade-in."

Don't tell salespeople you have a trade-in until a final transaction price is set. If you do and the deal hasn't been made yet, they may try to distract you with the "great" deal they're giving you on your trade-in as they skimp on the real deal. And if you catch that, they may try writing your trade-up for less.

"You'll see games being played — they'll play one off on the other," Gentile says. Once you've decided on a sale price, then you can see what they'll give you for your old car.


Cash-Only Please

4. "I'm only buying the car with cash."

Car dealers make a significant chunk of added profit when they sell you financing. If you don't at least leave the dealer with the possibility that he or she might sell you financing, you simply won't be getting the best deal. Bragg recommends saying something like "I haven't really thought that through yet. Maybe we'll see what you have after we agree on a price."

But be truly noncommittal with financing, even though it's a good idea to line up tentative financing with your lender before you go car shopping.

Still Debating

5. "I'm not sure…which model do you think I need?"

If you're this undecided, you may end up driving away in a vehicle you neither wanted nor needed. Do the research in advance, and make your first shopping trip a short one. Use this opportunity to gather information and take your spec vehicle for a short test drive. If your uncertainty is apparent, you may end up buying the model with the most add-on equipment, the highest sticker price and, of course, the most profit for the dealer. Before you go shopping, narrow your choices down to three or four vehicles that fit your needs.


My Dream Car

6. "Oh, I've wanted one of these all my life."

As soon as you've lost yourself in the dreamy vision of that gleaming convertible, the salesperson has you hooked, and your chances of getting a great deal are over. "Don't get caught heavy breathing," says Bragg. "Certainly don't admit to your spouse — with the salesman listening in the backseat — that you're in love with the car." Here's where you need to have a communication plan. Try to sound objective and rational. Point out some pros and cons and be observant and calm. Just don't say that you have to have this car.


What Everyone Wants

7. "I'll take whatever the popular options are."

Don't ever ask for the "popular options" especially on a luxury model that already comes loaded. It's an open invitation for overpriced dealer add-ons such as interior protectant, window etching or undercoating. They're all things you can come back for later. Instead, go through the equipment list at home after your first visit to the dealership and then decide exactly what you need.


Lowest You Can Go

8. "What's the lowest price you can give me?"

Most likely, this question won't be taken seriously, and you will be met with a predictable performance. The salesperson will wince, maybe talk to the manager, fiddle with numbers and eventually come back with a price that probably isn't a very good deal for you. But there may be so much apparent effort in this performance that you'll be pressured into settling for that final number. Don't. To avoid this, make an informed and reasonable low offer, then wait for a counteroffer. Don't be afraid of silence. Conversely, don't be surprised if there's even a little drama.


Doing The Math

9. "Sure, I'll look at the numbers with you."

Perhaps quite early in your visit, the salesperson will most likely make an offer to "just go look at the numbers." Dealers do this when they sense you're undecided, but they want to be in the position of control. Getting you in the office makes it harder for you to back out. Wait until you can call the shots of what you want at what price.


The Haggle Factor

10. "I think you can do a lot better than that."

Never scold or accuse the salespeople. Be polite. Compliment them, and show respect. You'll never get the best price if you talk down to them. At least for the moment, you want them to be your friends. Let the scene play out, but leave when the deal's not good enough by quietly suggesting that the competition across town might be more willing to work with you.

Copyright © 2007 Forbes.com LLC

Immigration raids hurting farmers - Growers say crackdown is causing workers to flee; now they want reform

By Moira Herbst

Updated: 2:37 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2007
Maureen Torrey, an 11th-generation farmer in the rural town of Elba, N.Y., has been losing sleep. Just as rows of cabbage and winter squash stand ready for harvest on her 11,000 acre farm, she can't find enough workers to bring in the crops. She needs about 350 workers and is 70 short of that number. "I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and my mind doesn't shut off," she says.

The problem, she says, is fear. Torrey Farms, a 14-crop vegetable farm located an hour east of Buffalo, has been raided twice since last October, when she says immigration officials kicked in the doors of workers' housing and apprehended 34. In August, officials arrested seven workers and 14 more fled the area. Amid continued talk of a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, she's afraid still more of her workforce will flee to less hostile terrain. With a population of about 9,000, the town of Elba, "Onion Capital of the World" to locals, may not have the manpower to replace them.

"With all the raids, people get scared and leave, and I don't blame them," says Torrey. She says now rumors are running rampant that another sweep is planned for Nov. 15. "It's terrible. This is the worst I've seen."

A climate of fear is spreading among undocumented immigrant workers, causing turmoil in industries dependent on their labor. In August the Homeland Security Dept. announced that employers would be required to terminate workers who fail to produce valid Social Security numbers. Implementation of the new rule is delayed pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought against the government by the umbrella labor union group, the AFL-CIO.

But while the new rule has yet to take effect, its impact is already being felt by farmers like Torrey. An estimated three-quarters of agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and growers are starting to feel the paralyzing effects of losing their workforce. They say that unless the government implements workable reforms, the future of the U.S. as a food-producing nation is in jeopardy.

Import workers, or import food
Agriculture does not play the role it once did in the U.S. economy, of course. Though the amount of farmland used has remained fairly steady over the past century, changes to the structure of farms and improvements in productivity have cut the number of people involved dramatically. In 1900, for example, 41% of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture, while that number now stands at less than 2%. Farmers hire workers for about 3 million agricultural jobs each year, but only one-quarter of that workforce is legally authorized. Agriculture also makes up a lower share of the U.S. gross domestic product than ever, accounting for less than 1%.

Still, farm advocates say that immigrant workers are allowing U.S. farmers to compete in a fierce global marketplace, and that losing the workforce means losing domestic sources of food. "The choice is simple: Do we want to import workers or import food?" says Craig Regelbrugge, co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

U.S. consumers may see little or no effect from the crackdown, but farmers like Torrey certainly will. Losing farm labor in the U.S. is likely to result in a shift of market share to foreign producers from domestic ones, rather than much change in food prices. "Farmers all over the world are salivating at the prospect that we won't be able to produce here," says James Holt, an agricultural labor economist. "They are more than happy to produce for us."

The chief issue in lost U.S. production, say Holt and others, is security. "What's at stake here is not prices, but food safety," he says. Torrey and other farmers agree. "We need to wake up to the realities of food safety and security issues," says Torrey. "A country not in control of its food supply is a weak nation."

While some employers of immigrants fear the limelight, the 55-year-old Torrey is unabashedly vocal in her opposition to the government's proposed crackdown. She set up the Web site www.saveUSFarms.org, which allows farmers to sign a petition and make donations in support of the AgJobs bill (S. 1645/ H.R. 3142). She also testified before Congress on the issue. The bill, currently being debated in Congress, would streamline the H-2A farm worker visa program and also allow workers a path to permanent resident status.

"Every day I'm picking what crops my crew should tend to because I don't have enough workers for all of them," says Torrey. "We need Congress to act before the end of the year; farmers are in a crisis."

Many agriculture experts agree. On Oct. 4, farmers and economists testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives' Agriculture Committee to plead their case for reform. "The U.S. agricultural industry is in the midst of a labor crisis, the resolution of which will determine whether U.S. producers…are more than marginal participants in U.S. and global markets," said Holt in his testimony in support of AgJobs.

While AgJobs is debated, some growers are advocating more employer-friendly regulations. The Bush administration is currently rewriting federal regulations, to accommodate employers' needs, that forgo the promise of permanent residency for agricultural workers. The Homeland Security Dept., State Dept., and Labor Dept. are involved in that effort, which was announced alongside the call in August to crack down on workers with suspect Social Security numbers.

It is unclear how much progress Congress can make on immigration reform before it lets out for the year in mid-November. As farmers like Torrey are pushing for AgJobs, other employer groups disappointed by the failure of comprehensive immigration reform in June are stepping up efforts to pass narrower reforms. For example technology companies including IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, are pushing for more visas for skilled workers, while tourism and hotel groups advocate for more non-farm, unskilled visas.

Pay is not the problem
One question in the background of the debate is why employers do not raise wages to avoid legal problems and attract a native-born workforce. But unlike other industries that might attract more workers with greater pay — such as nursing and segments of the technology industry — it is not clear that raising wages for agricultural work would attract Americans to these jobs. Between 1990 and 2006, wages in agriculture have increased 54%, from an average of $6.12 per hour to $9.44 per hour (both figures are in 2006 dollars). Yet shortages remain common.

Employers and their advocates say that the fact that wages have increased so much and workers are still scarce is evidence that pay is not the problem. "This is not just about wages," says Regelbrugge. "Who wants to get up 3 a.m. and milk the cows? It's not a lifestyle many Americans opt for, especially when there are more comfortable alternatives."

Others argue that raising wages would undoubtedly attract more workers. "Labor shortages are created by employers," says Ana Avendano, director of the immigrant worker program for the AFL-CIO. "Employers say they can't find workers, but look at the conditions they are offering. Some of them are atrocious."

But Torrey says she offers good working conditions, and provides housing and a 401(k) plan for her workers. Workers start at $7.15 an hour, and the average wage on the farm is $10.95 to $11.95 per hour. "It doesn't matter if I raise wages," says Torrey. "We just don't have the population base. There's no one out there."

Copyright © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

Richard Lee McNair AKA Robert Jones

Fri Oct 26, 3:17 PM



By Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

ADVERTISEMENT


CAMPBELLTON, N.B. - A notorious U.S. fugitive who was captured this week in northern New Brunswick told RCMP officers who tackled him on a dead-end gravel road: "You have captured a big fish."


Richard Lee McNair, a convicted killer who was considered one of America's 15 most-wanted fugitives, was arrested near Campbellton on Thursday, about 18 months after he escaped from a Louisiana prison where he was serving a life sentence.


The RCMP held a news conference in Campbellton on Friday to reveal the details of the dramatic capture that began when an off-duty police officer reported seeing a suspicious white van in the area Wednesday.


The vehicle drew his attention because its back windows were darkly tinted. Suspecting it might be involved in smuggling across the nearby Maine and Quebec borders, he decided to call it in.


RCMP spotted the van the next day and tried to stop it. During a brief pursuit, the van turned onto a dead-end backwoods road and the driver bolted on foot.


McNair, 48, ran about 400 metres before being tackled by one of the officers.


"We placed the cuffs on him and I escorted him to the car," said Const. Nelson Levesque. "At that time he told me we all got a big fish."


Levesque said their captive identified himself as McNair, but it was only after checking with Canadian and U.S. authorities that they realized just how big that fish was.


McNair escaped last year from a Louisiana prison where he was serving his sentence for the 1987 killing of a grain elevator worker in Minot, N.D.


McNair, who was trying to rob the place, shot and wounded Richard Kitzman in an office, then went outside to a rig waiting for a load of grain. The driver, Jerome Theis, of Circle Pines, Minn., was eating ice cream in the cab when he was killed.


"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Vern Erck, sheriff of Ward County in North Dakota, said Wednesday after hearing word of the capture.


McNair has a history of legendary escapes.


In February 1988, he used a tube of lip balm to slip out of handcuffs at the Minot police station. He was captured after jumping from the third floor of a building.


The second escape came from the North Dakota State Penitentiary. Officials said McNair and two other prisoners escaped through a ventilation duct on Oct. 9, 1992. He was on the lam until the following July 5, when he was captured in Grand Island, Neb.


Eventually, with North Dakota authorities unable to hold him, McNair was shipped to the maximum-security federal prison in Louisiana.


On April 5, 2006, McNair smuggled himself out in a pile of mailbags.


Since then there have been many reported sightings, including about 300 in Canada.

"I feel good," said Const. Stephane Gagnon, a rookie officer who had only been with the force for six weeks before tackling McNair.

The Mounties said McNair wasn't armed when he was arrested but did have lock picks. He spent the night in an RCMP lockup in Campbellton before being transferred to the maximum-security Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B.

Insp. Roland Wells told reporters McNair was friendly and forthcoming after he was captured, but clammed up quickly.

"I think somebody like this enjoys the notoriety, and I think he wanted the members to know he was McNair," said Wells. "However, when we fingerprinted him and asked him to sign, he refused to sign his actual name, and signed the last known alias."

The signature read: Troy Snyder.

The van McNair was driving stolen in Ontario.

Police said it appeared McNair had been living in the van, which contained numerous items including computer equipment that they suspect may have been used to make fake identifications.

Wells said investigators were examining the van for evidence of other crimes.

"We're not ruling anything out," he said. "We're having them look for blood, we're having them look at the computer equipment in the vehicle, we're having them look for all physical evidence that's there.

"We're not letting this guy leave the country until we're sure that nothing more serious has happened here that we're not aware of yet."

However, McNair is expected to be turned over to U.S. authorities within the next few days.

While on the lam, McNair sent a Christmas card to Tim Schuetzle, warden at the North Dakota prison he escaped from.

Schuetzle called McNair's capture "great news," adding Wednesday he was confident he would eventually be found.

The warden plans to make McNair the first state prison inmate to be placed on indefinite lockdown, allowing him to leave his cell for one hour a day and only in restraints.

"He's our inmate and our responsibility," Schuetzle said. "I don't know of any other state that will accept him now with his escape history."

Schuetzle wasn't the only U.S. official celebrating the capture.

Wells said he spoke Thursday to one of the original investigating officers in the McNair file. He wanted to know how to spell Gagnon's name - the Mountie who tackled McNair - so he could name a child or grandchild after him.

From Slate.com - Beer Ok, Moonshine No?

Why Is Moonshine Against the Law? You can make your own wine and beer, can't you?
By Michelle Tsai
Posted Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, at 6:50 PM ET

Two Georgia men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of operating a moonshine still in the Chattahoochee National Forest. One of the bootleggers faces up to 35 years in prison for his crimes: making the brew, selling it, and not paying taxes on the proceeds. Back in college, the Explainer had friends who brewed their own beer, and that wasn't against the law. So why is moonshine still illegal?

Because the liquor is worth more to the government than beer or wine. Uncle Sam takes an excise tax of $2.14 for each 750-milliliter bottle of 80-proof spirits, compared with 21 cents for a bottle of wine (of 14 percent alcohol or less) and 5 cents for a can of beer. No one knows exactly how much money changes hands in the moonshine trade, but it's certainly enough for the missing taxes to make a difference: In 2000, an ATF investigation busted one Virginia store that sold enough raw materials to moonshiners to make 1.4 million gallons of liquor, worth an estimated $19.6 million in lost government revenue. In 2005, almost $5 billion of federal excise taxes on alcohol came from legally produced spirits.

Until 1978, it was illegal to home-brew any alcoholic beverage—even wine and beer. But a growing number of oenophiles and beer connoisseurs wanted to make their own, and they helped pressure Congress to decriminalize home-brews across the country. Today, federal rules say a household with two adults can brew up to 200 gallons of wine and the same amount of beer each year. (A few states have their own laws prohibiting the practice.) The 1978 law didn't legalize moonshining, though; you still can't brew spirits for private consumption. It is kosher, however, to own a still and process alcohol—but only if you're using the alcohol as fuel and you have a permit from the ATF. (In some states, you can purchase a legal version of moonshine from commercial distillers.)

Despite the Appalachian stereotypes, not everyone swigs moonshine just for fast, cheap intoxication. Some folks are accustomed to the taste of unaged whiskey, and they prefer the buzz that comes with it. These days, moonshine is even going upscale, as a new breed of amateur distillers in California, New England, and the Northwest are taking an artisanal approach to the hobby.

Government prosecutors point out that moonshine poses serious health risks, including heavy-metal toxicity. So, how dangerous is it? There's no inspection of the manufacturing process, so quality—and levels of contamination—vary. (There are some informal and imprecise ways to test the purity of hooch: You can light some on fire and check for a blue flame or shake the pint and look for clear liquid drops that dissipate quickly.) Aside from drinking too much and doing something dumb—oh, like attacking somebody with a chain saw and fire extinguisher— the biggest risk is lead poisoning, since a homemade still might consist of car radiators or pipes that were dangerously soldered together. One study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in September 2003 found that more than half of moonshine drinkers have enough lead in their bloodstream to exceed what the CDC calls a "level of concern."


Explainer thanks Michael Birdwell of Tennessee Technological University; Brent Morgan of the Georgia Poison Center; Art Resnick of the U.S. Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau; and Matthew Rowley, author of Moonshine.

Letter to the Consulate - Living Condition of Etowah County Detention Center

The Embassy of ABC
Consular Section**** Massau Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008


August 21, 2007


To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings. This is Unknown Contributor (A#**-***-***), an ABC citizen detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) at Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama. I hope this letter find you well.

I am writing you this letter to you since I was recently not able to reach the Consulate General of ABC in Atlanta GA.via phone. Mr. XYZ at this office has been my direct contact to the Consulate, and he has been a tremendous help in this whole process. He has even mentioned that he has been keeping in close contact with my mother upon my progress.

It has come to that my detention here in the Etowah County has been getting tougher and tougher as the I.C.E. decides to delay on scheduling my flight. They have already obtained my valid passport in their possession and have varified my citizenship in ABC, and I signed the Final Order of Removal on the 17th of July, 2007 as well. However, they have not yet to proceed on actual deportation for well over 2 months now. (I have now been under I.C.E. custody for total of __ days now.) My Deportation Officer, K.Chasteen has not seen me, nor talked to me in any form since the 17th of July, 2007.

As I patiently wait for this draining procedure, not only it is taking a toll on me motionally, but also I believe that it is putting my mental, physical, and social health at serious risk. We, the detainees, are barely fed all throughout the day. The average estimate on our food intake is only about 1,200 calories; there is absolutely no fruit and raw vegetable in our diet, there is hardly ever any fish and meat served. For the last two months I have been here, they have served fish only twice. On average they serve meat products only up to 2 to 3 times a week. All meals are very small in portion. By any means do I believe that the portion they serve is adequate for any adult male nor female.

We do not have any direct exposure to the sun here, either. And we do not have any means for physical activities and exercises. The recreational room, which is only available one hour per day, is about 20 ft. by 30 ft. in size, there is no fitness equipment, nor recreational tools such as basketballs and soccer balls provided whatsoever.

Although every person here is detained for a reason such as our past records, I believe that the way we are treated here is unsuitable and inappropriate. I strongly believe we could even make a case to say that some things going on here are very close to being a violation of human rights. We are civil detainees, not cattles.

I desparately need your help. I wish to get back to ABC and to be united with my aging, widowed mother as soon as possible. I also wish to get back to my business and to start to be productive again just as I had always been before this detention.

Here is all the information I have of I.C.E. personnels directly relating to my case;
K. Chasteen – My Deportation Officer: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5436.
D. Rivera – K. Chasteen’s Supervisor: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5438.
Travel Unit Officers in charge of scheduling flights for deportees are;
B. Freeman – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5432.
T. Applegate – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5447.
C. Walters – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5409.

I was not able to verify of which officer above is actually in charge of booking my flight back to ABC. But I trust that this information is more than enough for you, the Embassy, to encourage U.S. I.C.E. to start moving forward with my case. If there is any question, please feel free to contact me at any time. I wish to hear from you very soon.



Yours truly,

Custody Review

This blog and the previous blog are what I typed for Mac while detained at Etowah County.

This letter goes to the Department of Homeland Security and to the County Judge 2 weeks before your 6 months is up. This is to challenge them on why you are still detained despite of the long hold and the clock ticking.

Previous blog is the actual body of the letter.
This is the cover page:


DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
HEADQUARTERS POST – ORDER DETENTION UNIT
801 – 1 STREET N.W., SUITE 800
WASHINGTON, DC. 20536









REQUEST FOR RELEASE UPON DETERMINATION OF NO SIGNIFICANT LIKELIHOOD OF REMOVAL IN THE REASONABLY FORESEEABLE FUTURE PURSUANT TO 8 C.F.R. § 241.13












IN THE MATTER OF

McLoren Williams

A# 042-27*-***

ETOWAH COUNTY DETENTION CENTER
827 FORREST AVENUEGADSDEN, AL. 35901

Custody Review - The Body

McLoren Williams (A# 42-27*-***), who is currently detaind by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Etowah County Detention Center, Gadsden, AL 35901, hereby submits this request for release upon determination of no significant likelihood of his removal to any country in the reasonably foreseeable future; to HQPDU pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 241.13.

Mr. Williams is a citizen of Liberia, however, the country of Liberia has both denied his citizenship status and refused the issuance of a travel document on numerous occasions. He has been under the final Order of Removal since March 20, 2007. His request for a travel document has also been denied by twenty-five (25) other countries, and the U.S. I.C.E. is well aware of this fact as well.

Mr. Williams has cooperated with U.S. I.C.E. in their efforts to effectuate his removal, but those efforts have not yeilded any results. For this reason, and according to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Zadvydas vs. Davis, he respectfully requests that HQPDU review his case and grant him release under an Order of Supervision.

If released from custody, Mr. Williams will reside at; 3200 ______ Dr., _____, GA 3****. His father, Abraham Williams, is currently residing at; 3191 ______ Dr. S.E. ______, GA 3****, his sister, Louise T. Williams, at; 351 ______ Court ______, GA 3****.

He has been an employee at Exceptional Restaurant at; 4042 ______ Rd. ______, GA 3****, and his position has been secured by his General Manager, Ms. Phelicia Gibbons. (Tel. 770-***-****) upon his return. He is not a flight-risk or a danger to the community as is evident from his behavior throughout his detention under U.S. I.C.E. He fully intends to ilive as a productive and loaw-abiding person if grantd release under an Order of Supervision.


Sincerely,




­­­Signature:______________________
McLoren Williams (A# 42-27*-***)

Signed Date:__________________

A Letter I Wrote for Thailand for His Health Concerns

Myint Ye
A# 74-53*-***
Etowah County Detention Center
827 Forrest Ave.
Gadsden, AL. 35901

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
ATTN: Deportation Officer K. Chasteen
77 Forsyth St. SW. Room G-81
Atlanta, GA 30303

August 18, 2007

Dear Mrs. Chasteen,

Hi, my name is Myint Ye A# 74-534-578. I am one of the detainees on your caseload and just received my Final Order of Deportation on July 11, 2007.
My inquiry is to know the status of my case in light of my declining health condition. I have just undergone a heart bypass surgery on May 31, 2007 at University of Alabama. I feel that my detention here at Etowah County has not been conducive to the improvement of my health.
I am currenly on a strict meal plan, however, I have not been able to obtain other, proper care and a close attention to my medical condition especially when I would sense pain in my chest area. These incidents are noticeably increasing in frequency since I have arrived here. I am patiently waiting in the midst of all of this. Please feel free to contact the nurse and ask for more detailed reports and/or verification on this claim.
For the last two months of my detention here, I have yet to meet you in person. I do not know what is going on with my case whatsoever. Please update me on my status. Is it progressing? Is it just on hold? If it is progressing, what is the next step to be taken? If just on hold, why haulted? Please send me a reply in writing, or come see me in person to update me on this matter.
Thank you so much for your time and your help.


Sincerely,




Myint Ye
A# 74-53*-***

Addresses and Numbers of All Existing Embassies In the United States

Here are the numbers and the addresses of all existing Embassies in the United States in alphabetical order.

If you ever come across with a friend of a foreign-born in need, you want to go to these guys.

Embassy of the Republic of Afghanistan
Consular Section
2341 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Section: 202-234-3770/71
Fax: 202-328-3516

Embassy of the Republic of Albania
1511 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-223-4942/8187 or 202-393-6255
Fax: 202-628-7342

Embassy of the Democratic and Popular
Republic of Algeria
Consular Section
2118 Kalorama Rd., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-2800
Fax: 202-667-2174

Embassy of the Principality of Andorra
2 United Nations Plaza (25th Floor)
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: 212-750-8064
Fax: 212-750-6630

Embassy of the Republic of Angola
Consular Section
1899 L St., NW STE 500
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-785-1156
Fax: 202-785-1258

Embassy of Antigua and Barbuda
Consular Section
3216 New Mexico Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-362-5211/5166/5122

The Embassy of the Argentine Republic
Consular Section
1600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-238-6400
Consular Telephone: 202-238-6460/63/64
Fax: 202-238-6471

The Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
Consular Section
2225 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-319-1976
Fax: 202-319-2982

Embassy of Australia
Immigration Department
1601 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036-2273
Embassy Telephone: 202-797-3000
Fax: 202-797-3100
The Embassy of Austria
Consular Section
3524 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20008-3035
Embassy Telephone: 202-895-6700
Consular Telephone: 202-895-6767/6709/6743
Fax: 202-895-6773

Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Consular Section
927 15th St., NW STE 700
Washington, DC 20005
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-842-0001
Fax: 202-842-0004

Embassy of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Consular Section
2220 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-319-2660
Fax: 202-319-2668

The Embassy of the State of Bahrain
Consular Section
3502 International Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-342-0741/42
Fax: 202-362-2192

Embassy of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Consular Section
2201 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-342-8393
Fax: 202-333-4971

The Embassy of Barbados
Consular Section
2144 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-939-9200/01/02
Fax: 202-332-7467

Embassy of the Republic of Belarus
Consular Section
1619 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-986-1604
Consular Telephone: 202-986-1606
Fax: 202-986-1805

Embassy of Belgium
Consular Section
3330 Garfield St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-333-6900
Fax: 202-333-3079





Embassy of Belize
Consular Section
2535 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-9636
Fax: 202-332-6888

Embassy of the Republic of Benin
Consular Section
2737 Cathedral Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-232-6656
Fax: 202-265-1996

Permanent Mission to the UN
Kingdom of Bhutan
Two United Nations Plaza, 27th floor
New York, NY 10017
Mission Telephone: 212-826-1919
Fax: 212-826-2998

Embassy of Bolivia
Consular Section
3014 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-483-4410/11/12
Consular Telephone: 202-232-4828
Fax: 202-328-3712

Embassy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Consular Section
2109 E St., NW
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-337-1500
Fax: 202-337-1502

Embassy of the Republic of Botswana
Consular Section
Intelsat Building
3400 International Dr., NW STE 7M
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-244-4990
Fax: 202-244-4164

The Embassy of Brazil
Consular Section
3009 Whitehaven Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-238-2700
Consulate Telephone: 202-238-2828
Fax: 202-238-2818/2827

Embassy of the State of Brunei Darussalam
Consular Section
3520 International Court NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-342-0159
Fax: 202-342-0158




Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria
Consular Office
1621 22nd St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-387-7969
Fax: 202-234-7973

Embassy of Burkina Faso
Consular Section
2340 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-5577/6895
Fax: 202-667-1882

Embassy of the Republic of Burundi
Consular Section
2233 Wisconsin Ave., NW STE 212
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-342-2574
Fax: 202-342-2578

Royal Embassy of Cambodia
4500 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20011
Telephone: 202-726-7742
Fax: 202-726-8381

Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon
Consular Section
2349 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-8790 to 8794
Fax: 202-387-3826

Embassy of Canada, Consular Section
501 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20001
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-682-1740
Fax: 202-682-7726

Embassy of the Republic of Cape Verde
Consular Section
3415 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-965-6820
Fax: 202- 965-1207

Embassy of the Central African Republic
Consular Section
1618 22nd St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-483-7800/01
Fax: 202-332-9893

The Embassy of the Republic of Chad
Consular Section
2002 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-462-4009
Fax: 202-265-1937



Embassy of Chile
Consular Section
1732 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-785-1746
Fax: 202-887-5579

Embassy of the People's Republic of China
Consular Section
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-328-2500/01/02
Consular Telephone: 202-328-2518
Fax: 202-328-2564

Embassy of Colombia
Consular Section
1825 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-387-8338
Consular Telephone: 202-332-7573
Fax: 202-232-7180

Permanent Mission to the UN
Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros
336 E 45th St., 2nd floor
New York, NY 10017
Mission Telephone: 212-972-8010
Fax: 212-983-4712

Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Consular Section (FORMERLY ZAIRE)
1800 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-7690/91
Fax: 202-234-2609

Embassy of the Republic of the Congo
Consular Section
4891 Colorado Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20011
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-726-0825
Fax: 202-726-1860

Embassy of Costa Rica
Consular Section
2112 S Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-234-2945/46/47
Consular Telephone: 202-328-6628
Fax: 202-265-4795

Embassy of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
Consular Section
2424 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-797-0300
Fax: 202-483-8482




Embassy of the Republic of Croatia
Consular Section
2343 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20002
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-588-5899
Fax: 202-588-8936

Cuban Interest Section
Embassy of Switzerland
2630 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
Telephone: 202-797-8518 or 202-797-0748
Fax: 202-797-8521

Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus
Consular Section
2211 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: 202-462-5772
Fax: 202-483-6710

Embassy of the Czech Republic
3900 Spring of Freedom St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consul Telephone: 202-363-6315 ext. 25
Fax: 202-966-8540


Royal Danish Embassy
Consular Section
3200 Whitehaven St., NW
Washington, DC 20008-3683
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-4300
Fax: 202-328-1470

Embassy of the Republic of Djibouti
Consular Section
1156 15th St., NW STE 515
Washington, DC 20005
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-331-0270
Fax: 202-331-0302

Embassy of the Commonwealth of Dominica
3216 New Mexico Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016
Telephone: 202-364-6781

Embassy of the Dominican Republic
Consular Section
1715 22nd St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-6280
Fax: 202-265-8057

The Embassy of Ecuador
Consular Section
2335 14th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-234-7200
Consular Telephone: 202-234-7166
Fax: 202-265-9325

Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Consular Section
3521 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-895-5400
Consular Telephone: 202-966-6342
Fax: 202-244-4319/5131

The Embassy of El Salvador
Office of Consular Affairs
1424 16th St., NW Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy Telephone: 202-265-9671/72
Consular Telephone: 202-331-4032
Fax: 202-331-4036

Embassy of Equatorial Guinea
Consular Section
2020 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-518-5700
Fax: 202-518-5252

Embassy of the State of Eritrea
1708 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-319-1991
Fax: 202-319-1304/1308

Embassy of Estonia
Consular Section
2131 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-588-0101
Fax: 202-588-0108

Embassy of Ethiopia
Consular Section
2134 Kalorama Rd., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-2281/82
Fax: 202-328-7950

Embassy of the Republic of Fiji
2233 Wisconsin Ave., NW STE 240
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy Telephone: 202-337-8320
Fax: 202-337-1996

Embassy of Finland
3301 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-298-5800
Fax: 202-298-6030

Embassy of France
Consular Office
4101 Reservoir Rd., NW
Washington, DC 20007-2185
Embassy Telephone: 202-944-6000
Consular Telephone: 202-944-6195
Fax: 202-944-6148
Embassy of the Gabonese Republic
Consular Section
2233 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Section: 202-797-1000
Fax: 202-332-0668

Embassy of The Gambia
Consular Section
1155 15th St., NW STE 1000
Washington, DC 20005-2076
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-785-1399/1379/1425
Fax: 202-785-1430

Embassy of the Republic of Georgia
Consular Section
1511 K St., NW, Suite 424
Washington, DC 20005
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-393-6060
Fax: 202-393-6060

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Consular Section
4645 Reservoir Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy Telephone: 202-298-4360
Fax: 202-471-5558

Embassy of Ghana
Consular Section
3512 International Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-686-4520
Fax: 202-686-4527

Embassy of Greece
Consular Section
2221 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-5800
Consular Telephone: 202-939-5818
Embassy Fax: 202-939-5824
Consular Fax: 202-234-2803

Embassy of Grenada
1701 New Hampshire Ave, NW
Washington DC 20009
Telephone: 202-265-2561

Embassy of Guatemala
Consular Section
2220 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-745-4952/53/54
Fax: 202-745-1908

Embassy of the Republic of Guinea
Consular Section
2112 Leroy Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-483-9420
Fax: 202-483-8688
Embassy of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Consular Section
918 16th Street NW, Mezzanine Suite
Washington, DC 20006
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-872-4222
Fax: 202-872-4226

Embassy of Guyana
Consular Section
2490 Tracy Pl. NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-6900/03
Fax: 202-232-1297

Embassy of the Republic of Haiti
Consular Section
2311 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-4090/91/92
Fax: 202-745-7215

Embassy of Honduras
Consular Section
1528 K Street NW (First Floor)
Washington, DC 20005
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-737-2972/2978
Fax: 202-737-2907

Embassy of the Republic of Hungary
Consular Section
3910 Shoemaker St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-362-6730
Fax: 202-966-8135

The Embassy of Iceland
Consular Section
2022 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-6653/54/55
Fax: 202-265-6656

Embassy of India
Consular Section
2107 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-7000
Consular Telephone: 202-939-9839/9845
Fax: 202-797-4693

Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
Consular Section
2020 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-775-5200
Fax: 202-775-5365

Iranian Interest Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Telephone: 202-965-4990/1/2/3/4/9
Fax: 202-965-1073/2050
Iraqi Interest Section
1801 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-483-7500
Fax: 202-462-5066

Embassy of Ireland
Consular Section
2234 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-462-3939
Fax: 202-232-5993

Embassy of Israel
Consular Section
3514 International Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-364-5557 / 202-364-5500 Fax: 202-364-5429

Embassy of Italy
Consular Section
1601 Fuller St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Phone: 202-328-5500
Consular Telephone: 202-328-5553
Fax: 202-328-5593

Embassy of Jamaica
1520 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy Telephone: 202-452-0660
Fax: 202-452-0081

The Embassy of Japan
Consular Section
2520 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-238-6700
Fax: 202-328-2187

The Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
3504 International Dr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-966-2664
Consular Telephone: 202-966-2861
Fax: 202-686-4491

Embassy of Kazakhstan
Consular Section
3421 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-333-4504/07
Fax: 202-333-4509

The Embassy of Kenya
Consular Section
2249 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-387-6101
Fax: 202-462-3829

Republic of the Marshall Islands
Attn: Kiribati Interest Section
2433 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Phone: 202-234-5414
Fax: 202-232-3236

Permanent Representative of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the UN
515 East 72nd St, 38-F
New York, N.Y. 10021
Telephone: 212-772-0712/0725/0748
Fax: 212-772-0735

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea
Consular Office
2320 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-5600
Consular Telephone: 202-939-5661/5653
Embassy Fax: 202-797-0595
Consular Fax: 202-342-1597

Embassy of the State of Kuwait
Consular Section
2940 Tilden St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-966-0702
Fax: 202-966-8468

Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic
Consular Section
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-338-5141
Fax: 202-338-5139

Embassy of the Lao People's Democratic Republic
Consular Section
2222 S St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-6416/17
Fax: 202-332-4923

The Embassy of Latvia
Consular Section
4325 17th St., NW
Washington, DC 20011
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-726-8213
Fax: 202-726-6785

The Embassy of Lebanon
Consular Section
2560 28th St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-6300
Consular Telephone: 202-939-6305
Fax: 202- 939-6324




Embassy of the Kingdom of Lesotho
Consular Section
2511 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-797-5533/34/35/36
Fax: 202-234-6815

Embassy of the Republic of Liberia
5201 16th Street, NW
Washington DC 20011
Telephone: 202-723-0437
Fax: 202-723-0436

NEA/MAG Rm 5250 (LIBYA)
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520
Telephone: 202-647-4674
Fax: 202-736-4458

Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania
Consular Section
2622 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Telephone: 202-234-5860/2639
Fax: 202-328-0466

Embassy of Luxembourg
Consular Section
2200 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-4171/72
Fax: 202-328-8270

Embassy of the Republic of Madagascar
Consular Department
2374 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-265-5525
Fax: 202-483-7603

Embassy of Malawi
Consular Section
2408 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-797-1007
Fax: 202-265-0976

Embassy of Malaysia
Consular Section
1900 24th St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Tel: 202-328-2700 / 202-328-2742
Fax: 202-483-7661

Permanent Mission to the United Nations
The Republic of the Maldives
820 Second Ave., STE 800C
New York, NY 10017
Mission Telephone: 212-599-6195
Fax: 212-661-6405

Embassy of the Republic of Mali
Consular Section
2130 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Consular Telephone: 202-332-2249 or 202-939-8950
Fax: 202-332-6603

Embassy of Malta
Consular Section
2017 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-462-3611/12
Fax: 202-387-5470

Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Consular Section
2433 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-5414
Fax: 202-232-3236

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Consular Section
2129 Leroy Pl., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-232-5700
Fax: 202-319-2623

Embassy of Mauritius
Consular Section
4301 Connecticut Ave., NW STE 441
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-244-1491/92
FAX: 202-966-0983

Consulate of Mexico
Consular Section
2827 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-728-1600
Consular Telephone: 202-736-1000/01/02
Fax: 202-797-1793

Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia
Consular Section
1725 N St., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-223-4383
Fax: 202-223-4391

Embassy of the Republic of Moldova
2101 S Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: 202-667-1130
FAX: 202-667-1204

Consulate General of Monaco
565 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: 212-286-0500
Fax: 212-286-1574

Embassy of Mongolia
Consular Section
2833 M St., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-333-7117
Fax: 202-298-9227

Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco
Consular Section
1601 21st St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-462-7979 through 82
Fax: 202-462-7643

Embassy of the Republic of Mozambique
Consular Section
1990 M St., NW STE 570
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-293-7146
Fax: 202-835-0245

Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
Consular Section
2300 S St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-9044/45
Fax: 202-332-9046

Embassy of the Republic of Namibia
Consular Section
1605 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-986-0540
Fax: 202-986-0443

Royal Nepalese Embassy
Consular Section
2131 Leroy Place., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-667-4550
Fax: 202-667-5534

Royal Netherlands Embassy
Consular Section
4200 Linnean Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-244-5300
Fax: 202-364-2410

Embassy of New Zealand
Consular Section
37 Observatory Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-328-4800
Fax: 202-667-5227

Embassy of Nicaragua
Consular Section
1627 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-6570
Fax: 202-939-6542
Embassy of the Republic of Niger
Consular Section
2204 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-483-4224/25/26/27
Fax: 202-483-3169

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Consular Section
2201 M St., NW
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy Telephone: 202-822-1500
Consular Telephone: 202-822-1539/40/41
Fax: 202-775-1385

Royal Norwegian Embassy
Consular Office
2720 34th St., NW
Washington, DC 20008-2714
Embassy Telephone: 202-333-6000
Consul Telephone: 202-944-8920-24/8937
Fax: 202-337-0870

Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman
Consular Section
2535 Belmont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-387-1980/81/82
Fax: 202-745-4933

Embassy of Pakistan
Consular Section
2315 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-939-6200
Consular Telephone: 202-939-6261
Fax: 202-387-0484

Embassy of the Republic of Palau
1150 18th Street NW, #790
Washington, DC 20415
Telephone: 202-452-6814
Fax: 202-452-6281

The Palestine National Authority Office
Consular Section
1730 K Street NW #1004
Washington, DC 20006
Telephone: 202-785-8394
Fax: 202-887-5337

Embassy of the Republic of Panama
Consular Section
2862 McGill Terr., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-483-1407
Fax: 202-483-8413

Embassy of Papua New Guinea
1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 805
Phone: 202-745-3680
Fax: 202-745-3679
Embassy of the Republic of Paraguay
Consular Section
2400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-483-6960/61/62
Fax: 202-234-4508

The Embassy of Peru
Consular Section
1625 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Consular Telephone: 202-462-1084 or 1085
Consular Fax: 202-462-1088

The Philippines Embassy
Consular Section
1617 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Consular Telephone: 202-467-9324 or 200-467-9387
Fax: 202-467-9417

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Consular Division
2224 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-234-3800/01/02
Consular Telephone: 202-232-4528 or 202-234-2501
Fax: 202-328-2152

Embassy of Portugal
Consular Section
2310 Tracy Place NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-3007
Fax: 202-387-2768

Embassy of the State of Qatar
Consular Section
4200 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-274-1600
Fax: 202-237-9880

Embassy of Romania
Consular Section
1607 23rd St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Consular Telephone: 202-202-332-9678 ext. 117, 118
Fax: 202-232-4748

Embassy of the Russian Federation
Consular Division
2641 Tunlaw Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Consular Telephone: 202-939-8907/13/18
Fax: 202-483-7579

Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda
1714 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-232-2882
Fax: 202-232-4544
The Embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis
Consular Section
3216 New Mexico Avenue, NW 3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20016
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-686-2636
Fax: 202-686-7623

Embassy of St. Lucia
Consular Section
3216 New Mexico Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-364-6792 / 6795
Fax: 202-364-6723

Embassy of St. Vincent and The Grenadines
3216 New Mexico Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016
Embassy Telephone: 202-364-6730
Fax: 202-364-6736

Samoan Permanent Mission to the United Nations
820 Second Ave., STE 800D
New York, NY 10017
Mission Telephone: 212-599-6196
Fax: 212-599-0797

Permanent Mission to the United Nations
Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe
400 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Mission Telephone: 212-317-0533
Fax: 212-317-0580

Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Consular Section
601 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy Telephone: 202-342-3800
Fax: 202-944-5983

Embassy of the Republic of Senegal
Consular Section
2112 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-0540/41
Fax: 202-332-6315

Permanent Mission to the UN
The Republic of the Seychelles
820 Second Ave., STE 900F
New York, NY 10017
Mission Telephone: 212-687-9766/67
Fax: 212-922-9177

Embassy of Sierra Leone
Consular Section
1701 19th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-939-9261
Fax: 483-1793


The Embassy of the Republic of Singapore
Consular Section
3501 International Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-537-3100
Fax: 202-537-7086

Embassy of the Slovak Republic Consular Section
3900 Linnean Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Consular Telephone: 202-965-5160
Fax: 202-965-5166

Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia
1525 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy Telephone: 202-667-5363
Fax: 202-667-4563

Permanent Mission to the UN Solomon Islands
800 Second Ave. 4th Floor
New York, NY 10017-4709
Mission Telephone: 212-599-6192/3
Fax: 212-661-8925

Embassy of South Africa
Consular Section
3051 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-232-4400
Fax: 202-244-9417

Consulate General of Spain
2375 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037-1736
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-728-2330
Fax: 202-728-2302

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Consular Section
2148 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Consular Telephone: 202-483-4025 to 4029
Fax: 202-232-7181

Embassy of Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington DC 20008
Telephone: 202-338-8565

Embassy of the Republic of Suriname
4301 Connecticut Ave., NW STE 108
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-244-7488/90/91/92
Fax: 202-244-5878

Embassy of the Kingdom of Swaziland
3400 International Drive. NW STE 3M
Washington, DC 20008-3006
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-362-6683
Fax: 202-244-8059
The Embassy of Sweden
Consular Section
600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Suite 715 & 1200
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-467-2600
Fax: 202-342-1319

The Embassy of Switzerland
Consular Section
2900 Cathedral Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008-3449
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-745-7900
Fax: 202-387-2564

Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic
Consular Section
2215 Wyoming Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-232-6313
Fax: 202-234-9548

Taiwan Republic of China
4201 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016-2137
Service Division Telephone: 202-895-1800
Fax: 202-966-8639

Permanent Mission to the United Nations
Republic of Tajikistan
136 E 67th St., 9th floor
New York, NY 10021
Mission Telephone: Fax: 212-472-7645

Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania
Consular Section
2139 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-939-6125
Fax: 202-797-7408

Embassy of Thailand
Consular Section
1024 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-944-3600
Fax: 202-944-3611

Embassy of the Republic of Togo
Consular Section
2208 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-234-4212/13
Fax: 202-232-3190

Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Consular Section
1708 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-467-6490
Fax: 202-785-3130

Embassy of Tunisia
Consular Section
1515 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-862-1850
Fax: 202-862-1858

Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
Consular Section
2525 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy Telephone: 202-612-6700
Consular Telephone: 202-612-6740
Fax: 202-612-6744

Embassy of Turkmenistan
2207 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-588-1500

Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
Consular Department
5909 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20011
Embassy Telephone: 202-726-7100/02
Consular Telephone: 202-726-0416
Fax: 202-726-1727

Embassy of Ukraine
Consular Office
3350 M St., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Consular Telephone: 202-333-7507
Fax: 202-333-7510

Embassy of the United Arab Emirates
Consular Section
1255 22 Street NW, Room 700
Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-955-7999
Embassy Fax: 202-337-7029
Consular Fax: 202-333-3246

Embassy of the United Kingdom
3100 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, DC 20008
Embassy Telephone: 202-587-6500
Consular Telephone: 202-588-7800
Fax: 202-588-7850

Consulate of Uruguay
2715 M Street, 3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy Telephone: 202-331-1313/14/15/16
Consular Telephone: 202-331-4219
Fax: 202-331-8142

Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Consular Section1746 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Embassy Telephone: 202-887-5300
Fax: 202-293-6804
Permanent Mission to the UN - Vanuatu
416 Convent Ave.
New York, NY 10031
Mission Telephone: 212-926-3311
Fax: 212-926-4131

Embassy of the Republic of Venezuela
Consular Section
1099 30th ST., NW
Washington, DC 20007
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-342-2214
Fax: 202-342-6820

Embassy of Vietnam
1233 20th Street, NW, Suite 400
Washington DC 20036
Telephone: 202-861-2293
Fax: 202-861-0917

Embassy of the Republic of Yemen
Consular Section
2600 Virginia Ave., NW STE 705
Washington, DC 20037
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-965-4760/61
Fax: 202-337-2017

Embassy of the Republic of Zambia
Consular Section
2419 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: 202-265-9717/9718
Fax: 202-332-0826

Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Consular Section
1608 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Embassy/Consular Telephone: 202-332-7100 Fax: 202-483-9326

Habeas Corpus Sample

Following is a copy of an actual Habeas Corpus turned in for a case. I have tweeked a few things so that you can cut and paste and put it to use. Please do not hire an immigration lawyer. They charge you $5,000 to $7,500 for this document IF they know it even existing. I have heard of too many cases detainees` immigration lawyers just took their money and disappeared.
If you have been detained at an immigration detention center for more than 6 months, then this, Habeas Corpus, is to tell you and ultimately the U.S. Homeland Security that they are in violation of the law. Read the content.

If anybody would like a real copy of it, since there is a certain way to do the title page, please feel free to leave a message stating so with your email address. I would be more than glad to send it to you.



UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA


Name_____________
A#­­­__________

PETITIONER
V.
SCOTT HASSELL
CHIEF OF OPERATION


RESPONDENTS
____________________________________

PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C § 2241.


Name________
A#_______
ET.C.J.
ETOWAH COUNTY JAIL
827 Forrest Ave
Gadsden, Alabama
35901




COMES NOW, PETITIONER, ­­­_________ hereby petitions this court for a “writ of habeas corpus’ pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3) to remedy petitioner’s unlawful detention by Respondents. In support of the petition and complaint for injustice relief, petitioner alleges as follows:

CUSTODY
1. Petitioner is in the physical custody of Respondent and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (I.C.E.). Petitioner is currently detained at the Etowah County Jail Gadsden, Alabama. The Respondent, I.C.E., has contracted with Etowah County Jail to house Immigration detainees such as Petitioner. Petitioner is under the direct control of Respondent and their agents. Therefore, this Court has Jurisdiction over Petitioner’s place of confinement.

JURISDICTION
2. This action arises under the constitution of the United States and Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) 8 U.S.C. §1101 et. seq. as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration responsibility Act of 1996. (IIRIRA), Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 stat. 1570, and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 701 et. esq.
3. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2241; act I § 9,cl.2 of the United States Constitution (Suspension Clause); and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, as petitioner is presently in the custody under color of the United States, and such custody violates the constitution, laws and treaties of the United States. This court may grant relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, 5 U.S.C § 702, and the all writs Act, 28 U.S.C.§ 1651.
4. Petitioner has exhausted all administrative remedies to the extent required by law.
VENUE
5. Pursuant to BRADEN V. 30TH judicial circuit court of Kentucky, 401 U.S.C. 484, 493 – 500 (1973), venue lies in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Judicial District in which Petitioner resides. 28 U.S.C. § 1391 (e).
PARTIES
6. Petitioner _______ is a native and citizen of ______. Petitioner was transferred into ICE custody on _______and has remained in ICE custody continuously since that date. Further, Petitioner wishes to notify this honorable court that he migrated to the United States as a refugee.
7. Respondent Alberto Gonzales is the Attorney General of the United States who is responsible for the administration of the DHS/ICE and the implementation enforcement of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). As such, Mr. Gonzales has ultimate custodian authority over Petitioner.
8. Respondents Raymond Ramonse is the District Director of the Atlanta District Office of the ICE and is the Petitioner’s immediate custodian. See Vasquez v. Reno, 233 F.3d 688, 690 (1st cir. 2002), cert. denied, 122 S. Ct. 43 (2001).
9. Respondent DAVIS VENTURELLA is the Director for ICE Headquarters Post Order Detention Unit (HQPDU). The HQPDU makes final custody decision for certain aliens like Petitioner with a final order of exclusion. See 8 CFR § 241.4(c)(2).
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
10. Petitioner is a native and citizen of ______who first arrived in the United States on or about ______ through _______ Airport, _______. He has continuously lived in the United States since that date.
11. Petitioner was ordered deported on or about _________, based on his criminal conviction for _________ by the Immigration Judge in Atlanta, Georgia.
12. The Supreme Court suggested the constitution prohibited an administrative agency from making unbelievable decision affecting one’s fundamental rights.
13. Petitioner had his non-appearance custody review on _______, 200_ with a decision to continue detention. The Supreme Court held in Zadvydas v Davis, that indefinite detention of a removable criminal alien after a removal proceeding would violate a due process right to liberty under the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 682, 121 S.Ct. 2491. The Court also held post-order that detention of aliens may continue past 90 days, but only after an individual administrative review. 121 S.Ct. at 2495. Also, Title 8 U.S.C. §1231(a)(1)(A) states as follows:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, when an alien is ordered removed, the
Attorney General shall remove the alien from the United States within a period of

90 days.

8 C.F.R. § 241 (d) states as follows:
Custody determinations. A copy of any decision by the District Director, Director
Of the Detention and Removal Field Office, or Executive Associate Commissioner
to release or to detain an alien shall be provided to the detained alien. A decision
to retain custody shall briefly set forth the reasons for the continued detention.

8 C.F.R. § 241.4(h)(2) states as follows:

Notice to Alien. The district director or Director of the Detention and Removal
Field Office will provide written notice to the detainee approximately 30 days in
advance of the pending records review so that the alien may submit information in
writing in support of his or her release.

Clearly, the I.C.E. is in violation of petitioner’s constitutional rights in view of the finding in Zadvydas v. Davis and the facts present in his case. Petitioner has been under I.C.E. custody for more than six months without I.C.E. holding an custody review to explain the reasons for his continued detention.
14. Petitioner has exhausted all administrative remedies to the extent required by law, and his only remedy is by way of this judicial action. The ultimate authority to interpret and give meaning to Federal Statute is vested in the Courts of the United States, and not in the administrative agencies that are charged with enforcing those statutes. See: U.S. Constitution Act.


LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR RELIEF SOUGHT
15. Under the current custody review regulations, there is no appeal available from an HQPDU custody decision. See 8 C.F.R. § 241.13(g)(2). While the regulations direct the HQPDU to acknowledge receipt of a custody review request within ten business days, see 8 C.F.R § 241.13(e)(i), the HQPDU is not required to issue a decision within any particular length of time, and there is no administrative mechanism for compelling HQPDU to issue a decision; see 8 C.F.R. § 241.13(g).
16. In Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001), the Supreme court held that six months is the presumptively reasonable period during which ICE may detain aliens in order to effectuate their removal. id. at 702. Interim administrative regulations also recognize that the HQPDU has a six-month period for determining whether there is any significant likelihood of alien’s removal in the reasonably foreseeable future. 8 C.F.R. § 241. 13 (b) (2)(ii).
17. Similarly in Benitez v. ICE 543 U.S. 03-878, 03-7434 (Jan. 2005) the Supreme Court held that continued detention of an alien after the six-month removal period if there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future is unlawful.

CLAIMS FOR RELIEF

COUNT ONE
STATUTORY VIOLATION

18. Petitioner re-alleges and incorporates by reference paragraph 1 through 17 above.
19. Petitioner’s continued detention by Respondents is unlawful and contravenes 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (a)(6), as interpreted in the Supreme Court in Zadvydas.
20. Petitioner’s ninety day statutory removal period and six-month presumptively reasonable period for continued removal efforts both have passed. Petitioner has still not been removed. In Zadvydas vs. Davis and Benitez vs. Wallis at separate rulings, the Supreme Court held that the continued indefinite detention of someone like petitioner under such circumstances is unlawful.
The Petitioner’s ninety-day statutory removal and six-month presumptively reasonable period for continued removal period has passed. It is extremely unlikely that the Respondents will be able to remove Petitioner to Thailand or any other Country in the reasonably foreseeable future. Petitioner has assisted the immigration with fingerprint and pictures in an efforts to obtained travel documents.
The Supreme Court held in Zadvydas and Benitez that the continued detention of someone like the Petitioner under such circumstances is unreasonable and is not authorized by 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (a)(6).






COUNT TWO
SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS VIOLATION
23. Petitioner re-alleges and incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 22 above.
24. Under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, an alien is entitled to a timely and meaningful opportunity to demonstrate that he should not be detained. Petitioner in this case has been denied that opportunity.
25. The I.C.E. does not make decisions concerning alien’s custody status in a neutral and impartial manner. The failure of Respondents to provide a neutral decision maker to review the continued custody of Petitioner violates Petitioner’s rights to Procedural due process.
26. Further, Respondents have failed to acknowledge or act upon the Petitioner’s administrative request for release in a timely manner. There is no administrative mechanism in place for the Petitioner to demand a decision, ensure that a decision will ever be made, or appeal a custody decision that violates Zadvydas.

COUNT THREE

PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS VIOLATION

27. Petitioner re-alleges and incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 27 above.

28. There is no significant likelihood that Petitioner will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future, because Petitioner’s detention is permanent and in violation of Petitioner’s fifth amendment due process rights.







PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Petitioner prays that this court grant the following relief:
1. Assume jurisdiction over this matter.
2. Enter a Preliminary injunction - restraining Respondents from transferring Petitioner to another Detention Center/Correctional Facility, until the disposition of this case.
3. Grant Petitioner a writ of Habeas Corpus directing the Respondents to immediately release petitioner from custody.
4. Enter a preliminary and permanent injunctive relief-enjoining Respondent from further unlawful detention of Petitioner.
5. Grant any other and further relief that this court deems just and proper.
I affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing is true and correct.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED THIS ________DAY OF ____________200_.

____________________________________
PETITIONER
Name__________
A#________
Etowah county detention center
827 FORREST AVE
GADSDEN, ALABAMA.
35901






CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

i HEREBY CERTIFY THAT ON THIS __________ DAY OF __________200_, A COPY OF THE FOREGOING PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C § 2241 WAS SENT BY FIRST CLASS MAIL TO:

ALBERTO GONZALES
Attorney General
United States Dept. Of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC. 20530-0001

MICHAEL CHERTOFF
Secretary of Homeland Security
425-I Street N.W.
Ullico Building,
Washington DC. 20536

RAYMOND RAMONSE
Interim District Director
ICE Atlanta District Office
77 Forsyth Street,
SW. Atlanta, Georgia 30303

NORTHERN district Of ALABAMA
United States District Court
1729 5th Ave N.
Birmingham, Alabama. 35203

DAVIS VENTURELLA
Director Headquarters Post Detention Unit, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
8011 Str., NW, Washington,
DC 20536.

SCOTT HASSELL
ETOWAH COUNTY JAIL
827 FORREST AVE
GADSDEN, ALABAMA. 35901




_________________________

PETITIONER
Name______________
A#________
ETOWAH COUNTY JAIL
827 FORREST AVE
GADSDEN, ALABAMA. 35901

Letter for Thailand

So Ye Myint
(A# 7453****)
Etowah County Jail Detention Center
827 Forrest Ave.
Gadsden, Al 35901


Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
Consular Section
2300 S St., NW
Washington, DC 20008

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is So Ye Myint (Alien # 745-3**-**), and I was born in a Karen family on Novermber 27, 1970, in the jungles right on the bordre of Thailand and Burma. I came to the United States of America as a refugee in February 2000. I am writing this letter to inform you of who I am as well as to attemp to obtain a citizenship status in neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Thailand.

Both my father and grandfather died in a combat against the Burman government fighting for the freedom of the Karen people. I also joind the Karen State Mana Ploc K.N.U. Army at the age of 10 in order to fight against Burman regime. I lived at various camps through my time with the Army. I have been injured by severe gun shots in the past; one, in my left leg; another, in my jaw; the other in my stomac. I also became a member of A.B.S.D.F. Army (Army of Burman Students for Democratic Form) in 1992.

Once again, I am writing you to make you aware of thousands and thousands of Karen people who find themselves in a situation that I am also in now. We have no citizenship. The United States government is tightening up on Immigration, and now I am facing deportation to Burma by them.

I do not have any family left in Burma, and I do not wish to be in Burma. Instead, I believe I, too, deserve a fair chance to pursue stability in life; to work and to live peacefully just like everybody else. I speak Karen, Thai, English, and conversational level of Burman, and I sincerely ask that you and your country would consider granting me a citizenship so that I may be able to return closer to my homeland.

Please feel free to ask me any question you may have. I will be looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.



Sincerely,





So Ye Myint

Things that I went through (Psalm 51:1-19, Jonah 2:1-10 on my mind)

With the Lord, there is no such thing as a travesty. The way everything has turned out, I can’t help but to see it as nothing but a blessing in disguise. It says He disciplines those He loves (Heb. 12:6. The Lord disciplined Jacob hard. Esau, not at all.) I can tell you right now that in the future I know I will look back on all of this and say that it has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I know for fact, this is going to go down as one of the highlights in my life.

On June 14th 2007, I took a plea bargain offered by the prosecutor on my charge. They proposed that if I take it, they would drop the charge and just ask me to leave the country.

This is what happened. On September 31th, 2006, I was charged with something I did not commit. It was brought against me by a high school girl who had been going to my church. I admit that I was not always above reproach, and I sure did not always put myself in the most favorable situation. Just as I have always claimed, I did not do it. Yet, I know my own dirty heart, and I know I am not completely innocent of all things if I were to be tried in different ways. Well...I guess there is no other way to explain this...I have made out with her in the past, I said things I shouldn't have said. But, I did not do what they claimed. (If that makes me guilty of it all, then so be it.)

I know why she did this to me. I clearly remember the day she turned into this, hateful, vindictive person. She had been trying to get my attention for over 3 months after I told her I could not have her around me at all. She kept emailing me, I did not respond to any of them, she would say hi at church, and I would completely ignore her, I did not even acknowledge her presence…which I deeply, deeply regret. I just did not know what to do exactly, so I just decided to ignore her.

My lawyer and I were going to take it to trial initially. Then, after the plea was offered, I remember his attitude toward me clearly changing as well. He started to ignore my calls and quit giving me concrete information. Forget any sort of advice. I never got any. He started to say, if it were to go to trial, he does not know how long it could take, maybe 2 years maybe 3 years…he was so sure that he could get me off the charge for the first 5 months, then all the sudden started say things like, “whatever you want to do, you want to take it to trial, do it, if not that’s fine, too.”

I contemplated for 3 to 4 months. I knew, in the eyes of the Lord, I was guilty of acts way worse than what was claimed. For 1 to 2years prior to this, I had been willingly living in complete lawlessness; lying to and taking advantage of my own friends, and fooling around with my ex girlfriends, etc. I remember even saying to myself during these years, I would ditch Christianity if it would hinder me from pursuing my goals of the moment; to be a multi-millionaire in the United States and be married to a young trophy wife. (Oh geez…this sounds so dumb and immature reading it now myself…pretty embarrassing…). I was completely carnal. And I had no concerns for holiness. (And, I was showing up at church every Sunday as the Director of my home church, teaching K1-6, doing maintainance, etc. I hated going to church. But I did it so that they would get me a green-card. That was it. That was only real motive behind my stay in SC for so long.)

I read Romans 1 to 3 sometime during my lowest point in February 2007, and I realized I was vile; that I do nothing but seek selfish ambitions and hurt those around me in the process. Selfishness is ultimately an evilness. If God is the righteous God, I knew I deserved death and a complete separation from Him. This is exactly when I really started to see the Gospel for what it was and what it was intended to tell the world. Then on, I remember crying everyday, literally every single day, after I would read or think about the grace that spared me.

Now, I see what has happened to me and honestly say that it was nothing but a discipline from the Lord, rather than a punishment for my sins. And, I take much comfort in that.

As far as the legal things were concerned, I hung on to take it to trail as long as I could, but I eventually ran out of money. The more I fought for my legal “rights”, the hope for U.S., and my reputation among my friends, the worse it got quickly. My stocks never moved, every trade I made was the wrong one. Literally, everything went south. For the month of April and May, I only had $100 in my account, my mother and I had not talked to each other for sometime, but I remember clearly having this “joy” or “peace” about everything. I really felt “happy” for the first time in my life. I think my good friends, Tim and Allyson can recall that. And somewhere down the road, I just stopped fighting. It did not matter whether I was in the U.S. or not.

I also calculated that it would cost me another $25,000 or so for it to actually go to trial. I had no way of making money because my visa ran out on the 20th of April. I could not work anywhere.

I know a lot of dark, questionable history about this girl and her family that no one else seems to know about. And I really wanted to take it to trial, but I decided to stop fighting. If they wanted get some sense of “justice” out of it by me pleading to it, then I thought, “well, so be it”. I guess it was from knowing the real judgment and the real justice that was about to fall on each person’s head that I feared more, that I just stopped fighting.

So, on, I think it was, June 14th, (by the way, this was a long, long wait. From March to June, my lawyer and the prosecutor kept switching my court date for total of about 5 times!) I took the plea. They lied to me and did not drop the charge like they said they would initially. They, instead, put me on probation, ordered me to register as a sex-offender (which they clearly told me I would not have to), and then ordered me for deportation. I had GPS tracking device on my ankle for 2 weeks, I was basically under a house arrest from then on until…

My probation officer, whom I was ordered to see once a week, called me on the 26th saying that he needed me to come in and bring the G.P.S. unit. I woke up the next morning thinking that it’d just be a quick errand, shouldn’t take anymore than 2 hours. I even put on two different colors of socks, one; black, the other; gray. I go into his office and then two other guys in casual clothes come in there with chains and handcuffs. I’m not going to lie, I almost panicked. It wasn’t part of the deal in plea bargain at all, and I thought they lied again and these guys were going to take me to prison. It turned out that they were I.C.E officers, who came to detain me for my deportation. Just like everybody else, after my plea, I assumed that when they said, “I.N.S. (now I.C.E.) is going to contact you in about two weeks”, they’d just call me and arrange a date for my flight departure or what not. But, no, that’s apparently not how it goes down. They were about to take me to Charlotte, NC's Mecklenburg County Jail (for deportation!).

That was the first time I had chains around my ankles, my wrists chained to my waist. A few people saw me being taken into the Strom Thurmond building, and I felt being judged very harshly, and I felt sad at the same time...for they not know what they are doing.

I was able to see Tim and Mark just right before they took me to Charlotte at the Strrom Thurmond building. The I.C.E. officer who took me up there was a very nice, younger guy, and he mentioned that he thought that my case was very unfortunate. He also said that I had great friends like Tim and Mark. I figured he gethered this when he saw us pray together right before we left. He was really nice to me all the way up. He sympathized with me deeply and even said that he wished he could have gotten to know me in a different circumstance...and that he would hope that I’d be able to return to the U.S. eventually later in my life sometime.

No one really knew how long it’d take until I’d actually get on the plane. And I can see why they don’t really tell you that. I know they know roughly how long it takes. I think they refrain from that just because it varies case by case.

Just to keep you in mind that it takes a long, long time to be processed once you get to the jail. Very long time. Here is how it goes down. First, you have to wait to be searched. There is usually two metal doors all operated from inside. You usually sit in-between those two doors for anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Once the second door opens, you get body-searched. It’s kind of like the airport body search. They pat you down, then, make you take your shoes off. What makes jail security procedures different is that once you walk through that door, they treat you like crap. Officers really show some nasty attitude toward you. You really start to feel like the scum of the society. No matter how corporative and submissive you are, no matter how much you show respect to them and that you are a normal person just like them, they still look at you, order you, and treat you like you don’t deserve to live. It’s the hardest part of the whole experience of being in the system.

After you go through all that (by the way they take your belt and everything else except your legal papers), they usually make you wait again for another 15-30 min. Then they take your fingerprints and a mug-shot. Then, they make you wait again for an hour to 1 and1/2 hours usually. Then you get sent to a “holding cell”, where there is anywhere from 5-30 of you put in a cell; some jails bigger than others. Yup, it’s pretty miserable. Of course there is a toilet right in there, so a lot of times it smells. You are locked up in there, and that’s where you wait the most. Up in Mecklenburg where there is a jail population crises, I was with about 20 guys in a cell no bigger than 25ft. by 25ft., and there were 5 of those next to each other. I left Columbia at around 1:00pm, got to Mecklenburg at around 2:30pm. So, by at this point it was already past 7:00pm. Yea, so imagine what it might be like if you get processed at around 11:00pm. Most of us don’t go to sleep. If did, you would be on the floor of that cell. There was a guy in that holding-cell who had been waiting for 14 hours. When you are in there, you just make conversations with people to make the time go by. You’d most-likely make complaints about how ridiculously long this whole process is. It’s really brutal.

When I was in there, I quickly spotted a non-threatening, maybe a little bit intimidated, and nervous looking guy. (I just realized that when you are new to the system, everybody knows you have never been in jail, but you have no idea who has been or who hasn’t. It’s like the first line of the movie, ‘Rounders’ - "if you can't spot the sucker...") His name was David. He turned out to be a fellow who knew passages from the Scripture here and there. I’m assuming he grew up going to church. All throughout my early stage of Mecklenburg, he became the person I spent a lot of time associating and speaking about the Bible with. David was taken to be processed at around 8:00pm, 2 hours before me.

They take a few of you at a time to get you dressed in a jumpsuit or what not. I think for my case this time around (keep in mind I had to go through the same exact process last year for my initial charge in Columbia back in October), it was at around 10:00pm. Yes, I got to Mecklenburg at 3:00pm. Once again, nothing moves smoothly in the justice/U.S. police system. After you turn in your clothes, they take you to your dorm, or the pod, or the unit, depending on what they call at that specific jail.

I didn’t get to my first pod, to my first cell till 1:00am. I walked in, everybody was locked down of course, was ordered to take a shower, went straight to my cell after that, and straight to bed. This is usually how it goes. Your processing is finally, officially over, and your life in jail starts at this point. And this is how my first day ended.

Before I go onto my life in the system, I ought to mention this. I called my ex-girlfriend earlier that first day during my processing. I only had three numbers to my friends with a working landline (calls to cell-phones are restricted in most jails and prisons), and her number was one of the ones working. Her landline turned out to be the key instrument in eventually getting in touch with Tim and John, who were kind enough to take possession of all of my belongings.

I memtioned that I was living in completely lawlessness. Well, toward the end of our relationship, I found myself caught in between a rock and a hard place. I was desparate for some divine intervention. I did not want to go back to the god and the christianity I had learned and come to understand - legalism and performance oriented religion with rules which I could not keep by any means. Yet, I also did not want to go back to living the way I was living with her. Her family`s existentialic ways; "well, we do not know what exactly what the truth is, so do whatever fits you the best, we won`t say anything" type of mentality, really bothered me. But I really liked her. She was very good to me. We even discussed possible engagement with our parents (Oh geez...this is embarrassing, too). Only thing that kept me away from that and gave me the real motive to get out of all this mess was my family friends, the Withers, and the Reeds - Tim and John Reed`s family. If anyone gets a chance to meet any of these guys, it is awesome. I had no idea that a family can actually exist in such harmony with each other on this earth! The way each one of these guys live their lives actually led me to my true repentence. (Thank you, guys for your testimony.)

Just about a week before this, abrupt detention, she visited me at my house (this is about 3 months after we had broken up), and we were starting to rekindle our friendship again (you know ex`es and past relationships often get us in big trouble). So, when I called her from the jail that day, we still had that sentimental feelings toward each other....I even heard her say “I love you, Keesh” as she shed tears. That was pretty tough on so many different levels…spiritually I knew the Lord was leading me elsewhere, but emotionally I still thought there just may be a chance with her...I knew I could be very vulnerable even though I had been feeling a strong sense of spirituality and a optimism and exitement for a new chapter of my life... it was tough.

I slept like a rock in that single-man cell that night.

Next morning I woke up to the breakfast call of the loud clicking sound of the cell being unlocked. It was at around 5:30am (ok, I’m having a flashback now. This is not cool. I hated that unlock sound). I immediately saw David from the holding cell. What are the odds, right? It really is. Most people you see during processing, you would almost never see them again in your life (maybe because a lot of them remain in the system? Who knows). He has been one of only two people in my entire experience that I came across with twice. It is very rare. (The other was a kid named, Andi, from Indonesia. Get this, he turned himself into I.C.E. since he had no money to fly home after his visa had expired. Yup, they put him in jail with us! I was with him in the next pod, then I saw him again on my last day on the U.S. soil.)

That day went pretty slow. David and I shared the book, “Purpose Driven Life” that day. Mecklenburg only has single-man cells, and single-man cells can be hard. You get bored pretty quick. I hate it. It’s boring especially when you first get there because you have no pen, no paper, no reading materials, etc. I don’t think they opened the pod till about 10:30am that morning after breakfast which is always ridiculously early; at around 5:30-6:00am. So, all that time in-between, I sat there read, prayed, thought about God, and thought about my friends and people in general.

What would you do if you had so much free time? From 6:00am to 10:30am in a cell with no TV, no internet, no cell-phones, nor no music, no magazines, nor books. You won`t be able to talk to anybody in the pod while locked down, you can`t hear them, and you can`t see them. You see nothing eye catching, and you hear nothing interesting. Just the buzzing of a lightbulb or some sort of electricity. You won`t even hear the lighting even if it were storming outside. It is THAT quiet. You really get the sense that you have NO contact with the outside world. You feel really left out at times. What would you do with yourself? That’s all you have got. You have nothing but you, and yourself left to deal with. Sometimes you really get aggravated with your own voice in your head. Your thoughts are the same thoughts in the same pattern of thoughts, saying the same old things you already know and have heard many many times. It`s like when a song you are sick of hearing being stuck in your head. There is nothing else to take your attention away from it, so you hear the same thing in your head over and over and over. It gets really, really aggravating. You really get bored with yourself. It`s kind of scary.

You see why so many people develop mental problems within the system.

I don’t remember much about what I did that afternoon. I remember playing chess with a few people. That’s about it. I remember myself being a little upbeat, assuming that I should be heading to Japan in a week or two, even a day or two. And I figured I would leave straight from that pod.

Boy, was I wrong...

Also that afternoon, I met a kid who had just come into the pod and was terrified about his case. I do not know why, but he just started talking to me about it, and I felt for him.

I told him what I knew to be true about life. We also talked about God. But, in about 15 minutes, the C.O. notified me that I was being sent to a different pod. We went on a lock-down right then, and I tried to catch him during dinner, but, once again, I was told to get my stuff packed and get ready to get going. My dinner was cut short. I told David to look out for the kid, and I left the book with him so that they can go through it together as well.

My next destination, the Pod 3300, was nothing like the 4200. 4200 was turning out to be like a day-camp to be honest. There was nothing threatening about it (mainly because it was a processing pod, meaning just about everybody in it was on their way to elsewhere, some of them even get bailed out from there; if that is the case, their charges aren’t that severe, that means most of them are not violent. That's why the processing pods are often mellow.) I got transferred to 3300 with another guy. As soon as both of us went through the first metal door and glanced at the inside of it, we said to each other, “I think we are going to like 4200 better. This does not look good at all.”

The best I can describe 3300 is...well, just picture the worst neighborhood you have ever driven through. Take those rough looking guys just hanging aournd on the corner, multiply them by about 30, put them all in the middle school gym. You get the 3300.

All pods in Mecklenburg are triangular in shape, accomodated with a public bathroom and a recreational room. It really has the feeling of being trapped and confined. There is not a place you can hide, everything is out in the open. There are only 56 single-man cells, all occupied, so the extra 20-25 of us slept on the floor. The cell doors were wooden, which I thought was rare for jail. There is a vertically long but slim window on it, and the cells have a very, very small window with a view of other parts of the building. (3300 sat on the 4th floor, I believe. The jail facility went up to 8th floor.) A lot of guys covered up cell windows with contrabands. They would take stickers from lunch bags and tape a toilet paper over the window. They also stuck crumpled up papers in the cell doors so that it’d jam it, causing the latch from locking the door when the C.O. tries to shut down.

We had a few murderers in that pod, some definitely, mentally unstable, some you would not even think they are killers. We had lots and lots of thieves, armed robbers, violent offenders, and drug dealers. They displayed no signs of respect for anyone whatsoever. Cussing at C.O.’s was a usual matter. We never got our lunch and dinner on time. We would line up and would never get our food for hours because these guys just would not line up, and once somebody gets agitated with it, it`s over. The fussing, the arguments, and the fights won`t stop. (Mecklenburg County was unique in that they make you line up before every meal and call out your name. They also did this for C.O.’s shift change as well…Kind of annoying to be honest. I have not come across with anybody who has seen the similar system in other jails...and I have met many from all sorts of places within the system.)

My first night there, the C.O. announced that there would be a Bible study. I decided to go.
I didn’t want to say anything that night there just because I was new, but I couldn’t help it. I feel as though I was very misled by many conservative teachings of others. I do not think what many preach as the Gospel is actually the Gospel. So, I speak out nowadays if I see it being mispresented.

I spoke out, and everybody in there thought that I had no idea about the Scripture. The vocal ones of them said that I was new to the system, thus new to the Bible.

Let me just remind you quickly that most of these guys had already gone to prison in the past. Most of them are back in jail for a different charge shortly after being released from prison. (Seriously, some of them just do not last. I met a guy in there who served time for 5 years, and after being released for 6 months, he was right back in jail.) Plus, the judicial system in NC especially take a long time to process your paperwork. So, some of them had been in there for well over a year just waiting for a court date.

For those who might be confused, here are the differences between the jail system and the prison system.

Jail
- County Police jurisdiction. You are their property.
- If police has enough reason(s) to believe that you have broken a law and want to detain you, or incarcerate you, they send you here.
- It doesn’t matter if you are innocent or guilty, you get sent here.
- You are held there until your court appearance issued by the judge.
- You can be bailed out however, then you are released free. But you still have to make your court date. (Then, if you plea or found guilty, with the judge ordering you to serve time, then you will be right back in jail, then off to prison to serve time.)
- If you have no one you can contact on the outside to bail you out, or if you can’t afford the bail bond, you are stuck there until your court date (you see how they use that system against somewhat lower income population? It keeps the county steady jobs.)
- It’s under the county police responsibility, thus they are not really trying to spend lots of money on the facility and food.
-You only see people with charges committed/allegedly committed in that very county.
- Smaller buildings than prisons but as crowded as prisons, and they have no control over how many can be detained in it. The more commit crime in your county the more overcrowded your county jail gets.
- You will not go outside, ever. There are no yards.
- They might have a small recreational room, but a lot of places do not. Yards in prison, you can run around all day. Rec. rooms in jails are about 30ft. by 30ft.
Prison
- You are a State or a Federal government property.
- You start serving your time here after proven or pleading guilty and being sentenced by the judge
- There are State and Federal prisons; State - state charges, cases relating breaking state laws, mostly misdemeanor charges; Federal - federal charges, usually much more severe than state cases because the case consist of breaking the U.S. laws, like the Constitution, etc. Often more severe than misdemeanor charges.
- If you are in State prison system, you get moved all around the state. It varies how often you get moved.
- If you are in Federal prison system, you get moved all around the country. A lot of times, if you are from the eastcoast, they move you to the westcoast as far away from your home as possible, if from the westcoast, then to the east.
- Both State and Federal have different rules and commodities, but they both have a big outside yard, and you as an inmate can choose to be out there on the yard for total of about 6-8 hours a day (unless you are in one of the maximam security penetentiaries/USP's - the worst one, for convicts with life sentenses. In USP, you only get out of your cell for 1 hour a day.)
- You can go to school and take classes.
- You can work out (with actual weights).
- You usually get fed really well (Prisons have much more money than jails).
- You can have a T.V. with Cable channels in State prisons.
- You can have a radio in both State and Federal.
- You have a job and you actually get paid (usually something like 10 cents a day or something like that).
- There is a lot of gangs, but most people know “how to do time”, meaning, most of them already have coped with the fact that they are going to be there regardless, so they’d rather make their time there much more enjoyable by not causing trouble, where guys in jail are often young and immature. (The unit in Etowah County; Alabama, where I was eventually transferred to is different because it`s an Immigration Detention Center).

I hope this helps.

Back to the story of be going to the Bible study.
Most of these guys are usually there at these Bible studies so that they can at least get out of the pod for a little while...and I can understand that. Every one of the Bible studies I went to in Mecklenburg was more like a “Social study through the Bible”, or a “self-help, self-improvement through the Bible”. Every one of them was held by somebody from outside, and that’s nice, but they still talk to you like you have failed in life. I heard things like, “obviously, you made a wrong choice in life, and that’s why you are here. Now, it’s time to change. You tried living your way, and it led you here. So, now it’s time to let God live your life”, bluh bluh bluh. I have a big problem with that. Here is my point; just because you have never been caught or been accused of some wrong doing, does that make you righteous? does that give you the right to judge others? How knows what is really in your heart?

It’s always all about “making the right choice in your life” type of messages. Even other non-religious inmates make comments like, “they (the Bible-Study-going inmates) don’t have God, they just have jail religion”.

Every time the teacher implemented that being in jail was a horrible thing, and how “God didn’t intend for you to live this way”, I spoke out eventually. No, jail is not great, but to say that the life outside is greater, I have a problem. Life outside is just as unfair and just as tough, if not tougher...you just have more things around you to numb your senses. People live in bondage everywhere. You are given a lot more access to things on the outside, no doubt about it, but to implement that it is better, I have a problem. How many are actually taking the blessings and blessing the others? I know I didn`t when I was on the outside. I was filled with self-righteousness and envy.

I would try my best to communicate this to them, but they only hought that I didn’t know the Bible. Have you ever thought to yourself that you know about certain people more than they know themselves? I am not boasting, but I come across with that all the time. I know exactly where their thoughts are coming from philosophically. I know the sources of their influences. I know the pattern of their thoughts and exactly what they would say at the end of their sentences, and they don`t even know who has influenced them! Scary...

A lot of the messages give by these teachers included how God would "bless" you if you choose to do good...like you would be rich. That is why you go to God? Yup, I definitely have a problem. Being in jail is not fun, obviously, but since when did the Bible start talking about storing treasures on earth? Since when did it implement that that`s why we have a life? Every one of these guys acted as they were the experts and will talk your ear off about their "expertise". It was hard to bear at times. Just think about the background of these guys…most of them are very, very insecure about themselves. No wonder why they try to sound like they are better than you.

After the Bible study one of these guys talked my ear off. I didn’t say much at all. I just listened. He basically kept on telling me I needed to accept Christ right there right then.

I hope that paints the clear picture of the nature of the most “Christians” I was around in that pod.

Another incident that should shed light on what kind of environment I was in is this.
On my third night there, one on the guys sleeping on the floor with us woke up in the middle of the night, maybe at around 2:00-3:00am, walked over to another guy who was completely asleep, and started ramming on him. The guy bled everywhere, the goon squat came in and everything else. All of this took place maybe only about 15 feet from me. We all suspected that they had problems with each other, but that wasn’t the case. One of the guys told me the attacker was saying bogus things earlier on that day, like, “why do I always feel like everybody is against me?” We are sure he was one of the ones mentally unstable.

Just imagine this though...what if this guy had decided to walk over to me instead...and what if he had chosen to choke instead of throw punches? Everyone of us especially the ones of the floor felt pretty unsafe after this incident.

There was a constant tension and the sense of threat all over the pod. Keep in mind that we literally do not leave this place for reasons other than medical and the Bible studies. There is not a hidden place in the pod. Everything is out in the open literally. There is not a blind spot. I literally had to constantly watch my back. I always put my chairs against a pillar and always tried to keep my body facing the bigger crowd.

We also never touched anything from dining tables for meals to toilet seats without spraying on a sanitizer. Those who slept on the floor, like me, sprayed the mattress (it’s the kind that’s in high school gymnasium for wrestling practices), and we sprayed everything in sight especially thing around where we would be sleeping, even the pillar. It is by far socially, emotionally, environmentally, and physically the unhealthiest and the riskiest place I’ve put myself in, hands down.

But, even in the midst of a hostile place like this, I somehow felt the divine protection for whatever He had set in His mind. (Literally, that was the first time in my life I actually felt like I was set out to do something specifically for and by the Lord and that I was right in the middle of His hands, walking right in the middle of the path He had already set before me. Those of you who know me really well, you know that I don’t usually like to over-spiritualize things, but, that`s about the best way I can describe it.)

One of the things that confirmed me of that was meeting Henry. I still remember how I noticed this guy out of the bunch. He often sat by himself and played Scrabble and attended every one of the Bible study. He did not miss it once. There was this, unexplainable peace and calmness about him. I’m not going to lie, at first I thought he was kind of a geeky looking black guy. He wore black flame glasses and had his tighter fitting pants pulled up. Keep in mind that everybody else in that pod was a thug. They wore pants about 3-4 sizes bigger and pulled them down past the butt-cheeks. I did not realize that my pants fit really tight, and I always tucked in my shirt since I did not want any trouble with the C.O., so I’m not saying he was the only geeky looking guy, but that was my initial impression of him.

Right away, I noticed the difference in the way he approached the Word. You can tell these things...not hard to spot those that are truly sincere.

I think it was after being misunderstood by the crowd again at the third bible study, we continued to talk as I was trying my best to explain my position. I think we ended up talking for about 3 hours straight after that.

He is in the light. There is no doubt about it.

That’s the crazy thing. After coming to realize how wrong I was in my previous walk with Christ (or what I thought was a walk), I was skeptical with just about anybody who claimed to know the Lord. (I have total of 5 years of Bible College and a Graduate level work under my belt, and I didn’t realize how twisted my so-called faith was till just about 5 to 6 months ago…February to March 2007.)

That’s why I felt as though that the Lord had His hand in it so strongly. Henry has told me specifically about his case, and he also asked that I would keep it confidential. He meant “in the pod,” or even “on the outside”, I do not know…regardless, I chose not to say anything about it for now.

At this point, all I can say is, he has got an amazing story. The gospel of the Truth sure is the power of God; II Cor. 2:18, and you see just that in his life. His life is a true testimony to that.


Henry let me hold his copy of Walt Chamber’s devotional book every day. I cannot recall a day that we did not get together and just share the Word and pray. We memorized the Scripture together all throughout the day. I literally felt as though we were on a battle field (the spiritual battle field) together in that constantly stressful environment. It was by far the closest thing that I have ever experienced to “iron sharpens iron” analogy. Pod 3300 type of environment is not anything I want to experience ever again, but just for the sake of being united with Henry, I do not think I would mind being in there again.


Even to this day, I still miss having somebody like him around. He was a great encouragement to me.


Among the other 15-20 immigrants in 3300, the rumor was that we, the I.C.E. related detainees, would not spend any longer than 30 days there. Also it was said that our next stop was Atlanta, then off to our home country almost right away. We all assumed that it’d only take a day or two once we get out of Charlotte. That would make sense, right? The I.C.E. always came to pick up immigration detainees once a week on Tuesday. So, a lot of us kept our hopes up. I was detained in Charlotte on Wednesday, so the first Tuesday I figured my time wasn’t here just yet. There were also other detainees who have been waiting for over 4-5 weeks, so I figured that I may be there for a little longer than I expected.

When the second Tuesday passed and I was still not picked up, Henry figured I would still be here at least another week, but somehow I felt uncertain for some reason. On Thursday morning of that week, I was picked up. (They wake us up at around 4:00am to tell us this. No warning whatsoever.)

Again, the processing takes a ridiculously long time. I got to downstairs to pick up my clothes, change, and wait again. I’d say at around 5:00am, I was finally dressed. Then, as usual, they put me and a few others in a hold cell for several hours. We all figured we were getting transferred but did not know to where exactly. I didn’t get in the transfer van till about 9:00am.

There were 6 of us males, and 4 females in the van. We were chained around our waists and ankles again just as we came. Both in our holding-cell and in the van, our hands were chained to our waists and had to eat our meal in that position.

The van is the type of van that dry-cleaners use for deliveries. Not the type of van soccer moms drive. There are no nice comfortable seats in it. The interior of the van was completely metal all around. A fence segregated the males and the females. There was no window, none. As you sit on the “seats” on the side of the van, you had to tilt your head and curl up. There is not enough headroom. We had no leg room either, because of our personal belongings shoved up in the aisle. One of the guys threw up 5 times on our way up.

We were all curious to see where we were headed. No one knew. The driver had told us it was going to be a 6 hour drive, and we thought he was kidding. We all had Atlanta in mind. We all thought we’d go see the Immigration Judge there right away, maybe even later that day. And we hoped that, then, we are off to our home country, or for some of us, even a dismissal of our case.

The ride took actually 6 hours, and we ended up in Etowah County Jail/Detention Center in Alabama.


One of the girls in the van was a Canadian native. She was incarcerated on a trespass charge, which was eventually dropped. So, why is she still in the van? I don't know. It's either that the system has some major flaws like that, or that she is hiding something. Who knows. (After hearing so many things like this, I have come to conclude that, neither should I trust the system, nor the people who tell me about their cases and that there is something majorly wrong with the system.) One of the guys in the van was an Iranian-born from New Jersey. He had just taken an exam for the U.S. citizenship in Charlotte. He passed the exam, and as he was about to walk out the door, they told him he had to be detained and be sent to Mecklenburg. He had a felony of gun possession from back in 1995. This is back when he had just gotten to the States, and he did not know that the licenses in one state would be invalid in anther. He had the license to carry it in N.C., but not in New Jersey. This means that he is too a convicted felon. I am afraid that he would get deported as well.

These two individuals have all their family members in the States right now, and are faced with deportation. And this seems to be occuring on the daily basis nowadays.

Also, back in Mecklenburg, I met a guy from Costa Rica, while I was seeing a nurse on my in-growing toenail that had just come off (any kind of cut injury on your foot, you want to immediately get treated. Diseases and infections are very common in jails. I heard about inmates getting amputated). He had a dying mother in Ontario, Canada, where he had grown up. His flight connection was in Charlotte, and as he was getting on-board, they detained him. He had a D.U.I. charge in Florida back in 1985. They claimed that he was attempting an illegal entry to the U.S. He wanted to hurry up and get to his mother’s place, so he pleaded guilty to the charge, "conspiracy to illegal entry to the U.S.". According to the law it is now a felony to "re-enter into the U.S. illegally. The sentence is anywhere from a year to 25 years in prison depending on the frequency of the person’s this particular violation, his past records, and the judge. I am afraid that this Canadian man just might end up in prison for a while. At least I know this for sure, he will end up in one of these I.C.E. detention centers like Etowah County. (After you serve prison time, the I.C.E. will try to deport you as well. We had many straight from prison in Etowah County. I was one of very, very a few right of the street.)

My cellmate in Etowah told me he rode with a girl on his way here, where she was driving without her license and got detained. She was a single mother and had to leave her 5 year-old son. She is now facing deportation.

I am amazed at how much they are cracking down on Immigration. As I write this, the U.S. government approved the increase on application fees for both green-card and citizenship. Green-card application went from $300 to $1,000 (this is not a typo). Citizenship application went from $300 to $700. I just might have gotten caught at the worst time of U.S. Immigration history. U.S. runs on cheap labor, which means without fresh-legs coming in, I wonder who is going to do these manual labors? Many of the Latino detainees told me in several different occasions in different Detention Centers that they are now heading up to Canada to find work instead of U.S..

It is also worrisome that they are not taking into consideration that they are breaking up the family by deporting many of the immigrants. Since I have been in Etowah (which is only a little over a month), I have come across with at least 8 individuals with a wife and children in the States but still deported back to their birthplace. Out of those 8, about a half of them had not seen their native country since they were infants. 3 guys were sent back to Liberia just several weeks before I initially logged in this part of the journal. If we see 2 people go “home”, as in being released here in the States, that’s a pretty good turn out for the month. Now, I understand that a few have to suffer for the bigger cause. I understand that all this has to happen just for the system to be consistant all across the board. But, here is what bothers me. The U.S. can deport you on charges like such. They will deport you for much more severe charges such as assult, etc. But, you can come back in on a few conditions. And these conditions all have to do with your financial status. If you have one million dollars to invest in the U.S., a visa will be granted. If you can open up a business in a town with population more than 20,000 on the U.S. soil and be able to hire more than 20 personnels from that town, you will be back in the U.S.

You see where the problem is? You will be granted a permission to come back much easier based on your financial status rather than your marital and your family status. That is where my concern is.

Now, the nuts and bolts of detention procedure you would want to know.
The length of your detention depend on whether the I.C.E. can verify your identification in your birth country or not, and whether the Consulate of your birth country would issue travel document; a valid passport or a birth certificate. Countries like Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba do not take their people back, as well as cases in which your country does not recognize you as a citizen, like, a guy who was born in U.S.S.R., former Soviet Union. His exact birthplace now would be what is called Ukraine. So, neither countries would recognize him as a citizen since he came to the States with an U.S.S.R. passport. Same is true with Somalia. (There were 5 of them in these exact situations while I was in Etowah County.)

These people usually get released back on the streets after 6 long months of detention and filing in a few key legal paperwork (one is called “Habeas Corpus”). This is very, very key, and I’m very lucky to have come across with, not only the knowledge of this, but also an atual copy of it on a floppy disk. There are some even in such detention centers who do not know about this particular filing. There was a guy from Liberia who had been detained for 14 months just because he did not know what that was. (The files and the actual material of Habeas Corpus is posted as another blog on this site. Please feel free to ask me for the details of it.) Isn't it crazy that they would just detain you forever if they do not know what to do with you?

These are the exact steps you want to take in such a case.

1. Decide whether you are going to fight your case or not. If you choose to fight your case, be prepared to be detained for a while. It usually takes 2 to 3 years, and the statistics tell us that your winning percentage is only 7%. If you do not fight your case, regardless of whether you are deportable or not, the longest the U.S. I.C.E. has is 6 months for your detention. So, that`s good news, but, once again, they do not always practice that unless being forced and threatened to practice it. This is exactly where Habeas Corpus comes in. It is a notice to the U.S. government that they would be breaking its own law by detaining you for more than necessary amount of time for deportation process - 6 months.
2. Once you are in the system, your assigned deportation officer will come to you sometime during the first or second week, (not places like Mecklenburg, but Etowah where it is actually an Immigration detention center.) Then, you will sign the Final Deportation Order. This is important. Keep this paper. Then, you will countdown to the 6 months. Habeas Corpus time limit starts when you first get detained, i.e. the first day at Mecklenburg in my case. The Final Deportation Order is a proof that they are detaining you to get you deported. Once you sign it, you go back to when you were first detained and start counting the total of 6 months from that day on.
3. I.C.E. technically only has 3 months to deal with your case. If they determine that you are still deportable after these three months, they can obtain a 3-month extension. So during these 3 months, I highly suggest that you contact your Consulate (I have included the list of addresses to your Consulate in the U.S.) Also, contact your friends and your family, and ask them to contact your deportation officer as often as possible. My estimate is that one deportation officer carries about 80 caseloads. Most of the time, they don’t remember who you are.
4. As your 6-month period gets ready to wind down, you want to prepare what is called, a “Custody Review”. It is a letter you send to I.C.E. asking them why you are still being detained for so long. Most of the time, they don’t reply back, and the reason is because they can’t find a paperwork on you. (If you are detained for so long, your chances of released is very high.)
5. After you send in the Custody Review, you just wait for the 6 months to be up, then in a week or two, you file in your Habeas Corpus.

I’ve seen people being released in about 2-3 weeks after Habeas is sent in.

This means that this whole thing is a waiting game. Nothing else.



I got to Etowah County in the van at around 3:00pm. I didn’t get to my cell till around 9:00pm that night. I was tired, and I slept like a rock.

Etowah County is a country jail as well as the I.C.E. headquarter for the southeast region. It’s a very, very small, old jail in a small town. I have heard that there is also another Immigration detention center in Georgia. 4 of the 10 units in Etowah County are all occupied by Immigration detainees. Unit 8 is for the highest risk detainees, then 9, then 1, then 10. Unit 8, my unit, and Unit 1 are set up very similar; with about 60 detainees, Unit 9, being the biggest, holds about 200 detainees. I do not know much about Unit 10. Once again, I was put in Unit 8. A man who rode up with me, who also had just come from a 10 year sentensing in prison on a kidnapping and a assult with deadly weapon charge was put in Unit 9, a lower risk unit. I thought that was special.

But again, that, too, was a blessing in disguise. I think Unit 8 was much more bearable. We do not come in direct contact with the C.O. on duty in our unit, unlike in the Unit 9. It actually makes it much more relaxing that they are not in our faces all the time. Unit 9 C.O.’s are a lot like Mecklenburg C.O.’s in that way. There was no such thing as noise control in Unit 8, where there was all the time, constantly, in Unit 9 and Mecklenburg.

Of course, we never saw the outside in Etowah County. We do not have a direct exposure to the sun. We are constantly in a confinement. I missed playing soccer and going to the gym, but I was also a home-body, so it was somewhat easier to adjust. Having the Word of the Lord made it all that difference as well. I think some people have literally lost their minds in Etowah County.

We have an older Indian (Asian) fellow, whom we called “Pacer”; we don’t know his real name), he stands in various parts of the unit with his commissary items (snacks and toiletries we can purchase from the store. It's call "Canteen" in prison.) in his hands and poses all throughout the day. No one knows why he does this. For those who may be wondering, I have asked my roommate Dee why we call him “Pacer”. He said the reason is because he paces himself to another location of his choosing. "Cause he paces himself", is what he said.

He does not talk to anybody. He would not say, "hi" back to you. People in the past as well as some of us tried to get some kinda reaction from him, and the result was always the same. He would move to another spot, or he would actually start cussing at you with this furious anger. We did not doubt that this guy could really kill us if we kept pissing him off. Other than that, he would just pose. He would stand there for hours and hours and pose. I never saw him hold a conversation with anybody there, only expressions of fury. And, he sure knew exactly when the commissary was coming and what he had to order.

One thing I was very surprised about Unit 8 was this. When I first came into the unit, an Asian fellow came up to me and said, “[h]ey, come up to room 813, that’s where all the Asians hang out.” I was very skeptical about that at first. It is very common in jail and prison that, when one is overly friendly, it’s often a sign of a trap. It’s a warning sign. But, come to find out, in the federal system, the Asians often prepare a package for new comers so that the first a few weeks, he’d have an easier time adjusting. They also show them around and let him in on certain basic “rules” among inmates. So it’s pretty sweet if you are an Asian. And that was apparently what Cee was doing here.

Cee was in the federal system for about 6 years, then, after finishing his sentence, was sent here for possible deportation. (He was not deportable since he is a Laosian-native). He was one of the most reliable, generous individuals I have ever met inside the system. He looked out for me all throughout my time at Etowah.

I was put in a two-man cell by myself. I didn’t get a cellmate till the following week. I remember looking out the cell window that very night and feeling settled. (I know it sounds weird.) I felt like I was already in a different country or something. One thing was for sure, it was a nice change from being in Mecklenburg.

I woke up the next day, had a breakfast, went back to sleep, then had a good, alone time to myself to think and read. I eventually made my way into cell 813 after the doors opened. (Unit 8 was pretty easy going, we even called the cells our "rooms".)

Room 813 was occupied by Phang, Kay, and a guy we called “the Haitian”. The first thing I saw as I walked in was Phang rolling up a cigarette. Yup, they were about to have a puff. They had figured out a way to start a fire using a microwave as well.

Funny story here...Just a few months before I arrived there, there was a guy named Jay. Apparently, Jay was sort of a leader of the Asian gang, and what Dee described him as a smart-elick. When a C.O. caught them smoking in their cell, he asked Jay where he got the fire from. Jay responded saying, “I put it out of my [behind]” (he had hid the lighter between the butt-cheeks). C.O. did not take him seriously and responded back saying, “I will get you one of these days”. Next time he got caught smoking by the same C.O., he was asked the same question. He responded saying, “I put it out the microwave”. Again, he was telling the truth. These guys had learned to start a fire using just a pencil, a piece of paper, and some toilet paper. C.O. did not take him seriously again, and he was never caught.

Smoking was not allowed in Unit 8, but apparently it was very prevalent.

I forget when my cellmate-to-be, Dee, came up to Unit 8 from Unit 9. But I remember Cee telling me about him. He told me Dee was sent on a "mission". Come to find out, Dee was down there to acquire some cigarettes in Unit 9 where smoking was allowed (wierd, huh?). Keep in mind that, we do not come in contact with detainees from other units. This was obviously one of the ways to get your hands on cigarrettes. Only time we meet or see somebody from other ones were when one would get transferred. If you get in trouble, they send you up to higher-rate units, like Unit 8. I always thought it was funny how guys in other units thought that Unit 8 was absolutely the worst place in existence. But, for us Unit 8-ers, Unit 9 was a lock-down.

I met a lot of creative, intelligent, risk-taking individuals at Etowah County Unit 8.

Gutter was one of those guys. He migrated to New York City from Liberia when he was 8, grew up in rough black neighborhood of Brooklyn, has had 18 different aliases in the U.S., started his own business at the age of 19, through which he still operates and pays 2 mortgages while being locked up. His uncle is the U.N. ambassador to Liberia, and his aunt is the Mayor of the capitol of Liberia, Monrovia.

By the way, when I was in college, a Canadian friend mine said "[The U.S.] is founded on violence and the cut-throat culture". I did not quite understand what he meant. Now I do, especially hearing stories from people like Gutter and many other detainees who came as an immigrant to the U.S. Obviously, the huge majority of them go to places like N.Y. where they know of someone from their home so that the transition is easier. But most of them come with no money, not much language skills, and no paperwork, so if they can't land a decent job, they end up hustling. And you know what that means when you hustle. Everybody except your family, relatives, and your family friends are enemies.

They told me a bunch of story, and I mean A BUNCH...at least one of these a day, where they would be going somewhere, and as they turn the corner on a street, they see a crowd of mobs. They seem to be coming toward them. Obviously, you do not know who they are and what they are up to, so if you are out numbered, you either turn around and start running, or you just head for the biggest guy in the crowd and lay your first punch on that guy. That's how a lot of fights start, they say. And often times, it's a simple mistake. They initially thought you were somebody else.

Sounds likea typical day in the hood of Brooklyn and South Bronx?

All these N.Y. movies I had seen rushed coming back to my mind when I heard this, and they all made sense. I realized what a sheltered, naive mind I had developed. It was crazy to me we both lived in the United States, and we both had developed a competely different mindset all together.

Geez, I'm naive.

Another iteresting fact here with Gutter. He is a friend of the rapper, Akon, and he is the one who brought him to Columbia. Gutter lived in and still has a house in Columbia. We were surprised to find that we both lived really close to each other and that we had come across with the same people at some point in the past.

I also met a guy we called “Thailand”. We could not really pronounce his name, so we called him that. I am going to attach a letter I wrote for him while I was at Etowah County. That tells you everything about his background.

We had a Cuban-native who worked for C.I.A., and then got sentenced 25 years in prison for cocaine use. No, it is not a typo. It is 25 years for cocaine for an ex-C.I.A.

Let me get off trail here to talk about inconsistency in sentencing.

With my case, my sentence was10 years, which meant that if I broke probation, I was to be in prison for that long. Obviously, I got off with probation on plea bargain. The “victim” was “15 years and 11 months old” when the allegation took place (in SC, 16 was legal and it read that they could not specify exactly which day it took place…Hmmmmmm, interesting). Dee told me when he was at court once, and the guy before him (white guy) was caught with child-molestation. The victims were 4 and 6. The guy was sentenced for 2 years. Two years! Another case he saw in court was similar. A guy was charged with the same kind of thing, the victims were 10 and 5. He was sentenced for 18 months.

Dee has gone to jail several times for not having his driver’s license. I know at least a dozen who have gotten off with a ticket.

He was sentenced for 2 years in State prison for not even an ounce of dope, but they did not know what his intention was with it. He saw a guy in court get bailed out for selling crack to an under-cover cop.

Just makes you think why and what is going on…
I want to warn you. This had been the reoccurring theme while I was in the system. I have seen way too many cases where, they would charge you with two counts, one; directly relating to your case, the other; a decoy. For example, this was Luis’s actual case. He was so clueless as to when he was supposed to get a lawyer (he was just a careless, young, free-spirited Latino). He stole a car, then drove it home within the county. Now, the police charged him with two things, one; theft, two; possession of a stolen vehicle. The police told Luis if he pleas guilty to the first charge, they would drop the other. Luis did not have a lawyer (did not even care to even think about getting a lawyer to be honest. He wanted to think about throwing orange pills at people during lock-down.)

Donald and I looked into this, and we found out that “possession of a stolen vehicle” applies when you take it out of the county.

I have seen way too many cases where people were charged with “conspiracy to…” Cee’s case was the same thing. They did not catch him with anything. They just knew he moved a lot of drugs, and they had been after him or his posse for the longest time. They charged him with a “conspiracy to…”

A Canadian guy living in Costa Rica I met in Mecklenburg was the same thing. They charged him with a “conspiracy to illegally entering into the U.S.A.”

It seems like a scare tactic and some what of an abuse of authority to me. I think you see a lot of stuff like this nowadays especially after Sept. 11, 2001. Those in the States. Please be careful. Once they have your record, they will try to weed out anybody with an unfavorable record. It only takes for them to say, “you resisted an arrest” with your bad attitude even if you know your rights and you know what they can and cannot do. Unless you are constantly filming what goes on during your encounter with an officer, they will do this if they want to. Please be careful.


Following is a letter I wrote to my Consulate while I was detained about the living condition of Etowah County, so that if anything happens, I was going to mail it out and create some sort of buzz on the outside world. Please read. This should explain clearly how we lived.

The Embassy of ABC
Consular Section
**** Massau Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008

August 21, 2007
To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings. This is Unknown Contributor (A#**-***-***), an ABC citizen detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) at Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama. I hope this letter find you well.
I am writing you this letter to you since I was recently not able to reach the Consulate General of ABC in Atlanta GA.via phone. Mr. XYZ at this office has been my direct contact to the Consulate, and he has been a tremendous help in this whole process. He has even mentioned that he has been keeping in close contact with my mother upon my progress.
It has come to that my detention here in the Etowah County has been getting tougher and tougher as the I.C.E. decides to delay on scheduling my flight. They have already obtained my valid passport in their possession and have varified my citizenship in ABC, and I signed the Final Order of Removal on the 17th of July, 2007 as well. However, they have not yet to proceed on actual deportation for well over 2 months now. (I have now been under I.C.E. custody for total of __ days now.) My Deportation Officer, K.Chasteen has not seen me, nor talked to me in any form since the 17th of July, 2007.
As I patiently wait for this draining procedure, not only it is taking a toll on me motionally, but also I believe that it is putting my mental, physical, and social health at serious risk. We, the detainees, are barely fed all throughout the day. The average estimate on our food intake is only about 1,200 calories; there is absolutely no fruit and raw vegetable in our diet, there is hardly ever any fish and meat served. For the last two months I have been here, they have served fish only twice. On average they serve meat products only up to 2 to 3 times a week. All meals are very small in portion. By any means do I believe that the portion they serve is adequate for any adult male nor female.
We do not have any direct exposure to the sun here, either. And we do not have any means for physical activities and exercises. The recreational room, which is only available one hour per day, is about 20 ft. by 30 ft. in size, there is no fitness equipment, nor recreational tools such as basketballs and soccer balls provided whatsoever.
Although every person here is detained for a reason such as our past records, I believe that the way we are treated here is unsuitable and inappropriate. I strongly believe we could even make a case to say that some things going on here are very close to being a violation of human rights. We are civil detainees, not cattles.
I desparately need your help. I wish to get back to ABC and to be united with my aging, widowed mother as soon as possible. I also wish to get back to my business and to start to be productive again just as I had always been before this detention.

Here is all the information I have of I.C.E. personnels directly relating to my case;

K. Chasteen – My Deportation Officer: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5436.
D. Rivera – K. Chasteen’s Supervisor: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5438.
Travel Unit Officers in charge of scheduling flights for deportees are;
B. Freeman – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5432
T. Applegate – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5447
C. Walters – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5409

I was not able to verify of which officer above is actually in charge of booking my flight back to ABC. But I trust that this information is more than enough for you, the Embassy, to encourage U.S. I.C.E. to start moving forward with my case. If there is any question, please feel free to contact me at any time. I wish to hear from you very soon.



Yours truly,



There are many more things that took place after arriving Etowah County. But I think right here is a good place to stop for now.

I will add more, especially what the actual deportation process was like.

But for now, I will see you on the flipside.

“Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. `Vanity of vanities,` says the Preacher, `All is vanity.`…Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:8, 13-14