New Haven Independent

These are the names of several of the 31 people taken into custody on the Wednesday early morning immigration raids in Fair Haven. Several of such signs were carried solemnly in Thursday night’s massive rights rally before St. Rose of Lima on Blatchley Street.

The name, however, that means the most to Jerry is Ivania Sotelo, his mother.

During the rally, Jerry (with his dad Samuel Sarmiento behind him) had a chance to talk to a reporter about what happened and about his most recent phone call from Sotelo:

Independent: So when did you last hear from your mother, Jerry?
Jerry: Just 20 minutes ago. I told her we were doing all we could to get her back.
Indepndent: Where was she calling from?
Jerry: She said since yesterday morning, when they took her, she’s been in two jails. One was in Hartford. She was calling from the second. It’s somewhere in Maine. We’re not sure where in Maine.
Independent: And what condition was she in?
Jerry: It was awful. She was … breaking down when we talked to her. She said she was cuffed not only by her hands but by her ankles as well. Like an animal. That’s what she said. She was being treated like an animal. She can’t understand why.
Independent: Where is she from?
Jerry: She’s from Nicaragua. She did nothing wrong. She just came here, illegally yes, to work. She went back to Nicaragua, and then came back here And she has been for six or seven years here. In different factories, first in the one making, you know, surgical supplies. Then a box factory. She paid taxes for the time she worked. I don’t know.
Independent: You don’t know what?

Jerry; I don’t know why they treated her the way they did. They lied to her, to us. They came in Wednesday morning and they said to her: You need to come with us because we have to update some of our records, we have to get some pictures. That’s what they said. But it was a complete lie. They took her away, in handcuffs. It was awful.
Independent: Does she know when she’s going before the court, the judges?
Jerry: She’s not sure. She thinks Wednesday. We want to be there, but we don’t know where it is, what city. They keep moving her around. Nothing. Oh, she said we shouldn’t worry, that she’ll be back. But I don’t think so.
Independent: You don’t?
Jerry: No. I think she was saying that to try to make me feel good. She was crying, in tears. I was too. I think they’re going to send her back to Nicragua
Independent: If you could talk to the authorities, face to face, what is it you would want to tell them?
Jerry: Don’t lie! I’d tell them to stop lying to us. When they took my mother in the morning, they said they needed some pictures, but that was a lie. They put her in jail with those cuffs like an animal. And they are always saying to us, Soon the papers will come. Soon it will be possible to get this and that. But it never is. Those are lies too. I would tell them, Stop lying about papers. Whatever you’re going to do, tell the truth.