[Archival audio]: No, ma’am.
[Archival audio]: I need help, a UTA.
[Archival audio]: Are you in prison?
[Archival audio]: Yes. Yes, in prison, the name…
Dhruv Mehrotra: Therefore, the dispatcher called back. When the dispatcher called back, a staff member answered the call and basically fired the call and said, “Look, sorry, we were in a detention center, a detention center, a detention center.” And there was no ambulance sent.
[Archival audio]: Sorry, we are in A-
[Archival audio]: [Inaudible]
[Archival audio]: We are the detention center, the Stewart detention center, the detainee is called 911. sorry.
[Archival audio]: OK, thank you.
Dhruv Mehrotra: Even on this call, you can hear this detainee’s plea in the background. So it’s clear that this is the moment when someone thinks they need medical services, they can’t get medical services, and they’re blocked. In fact, this is just an example where multiple family members of the detainees told us the same thing. Even in a serious crisis they think should be taken to the hospital, their loved ones are not able to get the care they need.
Leah Feiger: Yes, like you said, you talked to family, you talked to immigration lawyers and experts to really fill those gaps and contextualize what you found because you have 911 calls, not more. What gaps do they fill for you?
Dhruv Mehrotra: We are careful not to think of 911 data as a complete story, because sometimes it’s just the audio we have, while other times it’s just a brief narrative of a medical emergency. Therefore, these calls can capture the moment only when an emergency is bad enough or visible enough so that staff can answer and make calls. But experts and advocates are quick to point out that for every call, there may not be any other call. So, in our conversations with lawyers and families and those who have been detained previously, these conversations are crucial, and they give us a context that alone records cannot do. Her fiancé, a woman named Mildred Pierre, is a double amputee who was detained in Stewart. She told us that over the past month or so, he broke his prosthetic in the fall. He had to wait a few days, even seen at the medical staff in Stewart. Another example is a woman named Kylie Chinchilla, who said her daughter, a nursing student, scoliosis and a detainee for Stewart, often letting her sleep on the floor in pain, with part of her face numb. Her condition worsened and she was in pain.
Leah Feiger: Let’s have a quick break. We will be back soon. When we return, we will further examine what causes the increase in medical emergencies in the Ice Center. Overcrowding is one of the main problems when considering what factors lead to an increase in medical emergencies at the Ice Heart Center. Drov, can you tell me how bad it is now? Is this the direct result of the current government’s immigration repression?
