North Country farmworker describes conditions inside ICE detention centers

CANTON, New York (WWNY) - A North Country farmworker detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last summer is describing conditions inside the detention centers where he was held, in his first interview since his release.

Brayan Francisco Tepaz Velasquez, originally from Guatemala, has lived in the North Country for years and works as a farmworker.

He married his wife, Jasmine, a year ago. The couple’s daughter, Emma, was born in July.

Less than a month later, he was apprehended during a traffic stop in Gouverneur by Border Patrol agents who said he was in the country illegally.

“ICE, they don’t care if you have a kid, if you have a wife here,” Tepaz Velasquez said.

Transferred across multiple states

Tepaz Velasquez was transferred to an ICE facility in Batavia before being moved through different states, eventually ending up in a detention center in California.

He described being transported by plane while shackled.

“When we are in the airplane with chains in the hands and feet, it’s too hard, because when we’re drinking, I’m drinking like this, and we eat food like this (gesturing with restricted hand movements). When you go to the bathroom to pee, they don’t take the chains from your hands,” Tepaz Velasquez said.

Conditions described as deplorable

Tepaz Velasquez said he has no criminal record in the United States or Guatemala and is working toward U.S. citizenship. He described conditions inside the detention centers as deplorable.

“We don’t have cups for drinking water. It’s not good in Batavia. I’m still in one room with 20 people. The food’s no good. We are sleeping on the floor. They don’t care. They don’t give me a blanket, nothing. In Arizona, we slept on the floor, the same in Washington, the same in Texas, in Louisiana, same too,” he said.

Released in December, reunited with family

Tepaz Velasquez was released in December following a motion filed by one of his attorneys.

Jasmine Tepaz Velasquez and her mother drove across the country to bring him home.

“Pretty much everybody in my family said there was no way you’re going to drive to California. I told my mom, ‘You’re either coming with me, or I’m going by myself,’” Jasmine said.

Jasmine said the experience has taken an emotional toll on the family.

“I can drive through Gouverneur just fine. If Brayan is with me, it’s just like instant panic reaching Gouverneur just because that’s where everything happened,” she said.

Brayan Francisco now has monthly check-ins with ICE, a requirement he did not have before his detention.

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