In our family, the Christmas celebration begins with Noche Buena. Our daughter, Cate, lived in Venezuela for three years and met Fred, who is now our son-in-law. Fred and Cate were married at the end of 2007. They have lived in the United States since 2017. Fred became a US citizen in 2020.
They like to host Noche Buena, when our family gathers along with a few Venezuelan friends, to enjoy pan de jamon and hallacas. This year, one of the Venezuelans wasn’t there. His name is Jeison. He is one of Fred’s co-workers. He was seized by ICE a week before Christmas on his way to work at 5:00 am. He is in the United States legally. He has a work permit. He is working his way through the asylum process. He is a new dad and committed to contributing to his family and his community in Tucson.
Jeison is currently in custody, along with many others, in a detention center privately operated for profit by CoreCivic (formerly CCA) in Florence, AZ. The conditions at the CoreCivic facility don’t even meet the standards for prisons. They are overcrowded and unsanitary, and full of spreading diseases.
He was not processed for three weeks. He was finally able to meet with his lawyer on January 7. His first hearing before a judge was on January 20. At that hearing, his case was continued to a future date. The options do not look good. The best case might be that they decide to release him on bond (maybe as much as $10,000) while his asylum case is processed. However, asylum is almost never granted, even in better times.
What has happened to Jeison is wrong. It is unjust, horrible, and beneath the principles upon which the United States was founded. Jeison and many people like him fled a country being run by a dictator who cared nothing for human rights, justice or laws. Their lives were endangered just by being there.
Who profits from what happened to Jeison and people like him? Follow the money. What happened to Jeison is part of a much bigger picture. It is happening so that corporations like CoreCivic and GEO Group can continue to turn massive quarterly profits. GEO Group doesn’t just profit from incarceration - they also have contracts with ICE for surveillance technology to track potential detainees. Our tax dollars are being spent to incarcerate people like Jeison because overflowing detention centers produce more profit. There is no motivation to process, perform proper medical checks or release Jeison (or anyone) because our taxpayer dollars flow to the CoreCivic, GEO Group or whichever private prison corporation based on an unlimited daily head count.
We taxpayers pay CoreCivic $187 per detained person per day. Jeison, like others in detention, was put in “quarantine” for 21 days before he was processed. In case you don’t want to do the math, $187 times 21 days = $3927. As of November 2025, there were 70,000 people like Jeison in detention. That equals $13 million paid to private for profit detention centers every day.
The story of Jeison is just one example of how ICE has been emboldened. They have a target of apprehending 3,000 people per day. Over 70 percent have no record of criminal activity. ICE has been acting as if they have impunity. Last month they pepper-sprayed a reporter and my Congressional representative during a raid at one of my favorite taco shops. And, of course, as everybody knows, an ICE agent shot and killed Reneé Good. Since I wrote the draft, another Venezuelan friend of mine has been sent to the detention center, where he will spend 21 days in quarantine, and then likely be deported. And since I wrote the draft, another person, Alex Pretti, has been murdered in Minneapolis. These are not the only acts of violence committed by ICE. I am sure you also know people who have been detained and or deported.
You might be thinking about what you are going to do or give up for Lent. As you contemplate your choices, think about what Jeison and the other people held in detention are involuntarily giving up. Can you make a commitment to raise your voice for justice for immigrants?
Jeanette Arnquist is a former Director of the Department of Life, Dignity & Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino. She is retired and living in Tucson, Arizona where she remains active in social concerns ministries.