BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – On a Wednesday afternoon in September, the terminal inside the Bakersfield Amtrak and Greyhound station sat mostly empty.
It was a regular day on the job for Ismael Larralde, who volunteers at the station to help passengers get to their bus or train.
But since the Trump administration has pushed for mass deportations and Congress approved historic funding for immigration enforcement and detention, Larralde has found himself doing something new: assisting people who have just been released from immigrant detention.
“They're very scared. They don't know which direction to go, and if sometimes we approach them, they're hesitant because of all the negativity they've been through,” Larralde said.
On this day, Larralde stood next to two men inside the train station who had just been released hours earlier from a nearby detention center.
Kern County is home to four Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. It's the highest concentration of any county in California. People released from the two detention centers in McFarland – Golden State Annex and Central Valley Annex – are sent to Fresno’s ICE field office for processing. Those released from the California City Detention Facility and the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center are received at the Bakersfield field office.
That field office is located on Truxtun Avenue, just down the street from the train station. It’s where the men released today came from, and it’s where the newly released detainees processed at this office usually end up.
Larralde says over the last two years that he has worked at the terminal, he has met people from New York, Maryland, Florida and even as far as Puerto Rico.
And he’s learned how to spot someone who just got out.
“They come in with red bags. There are documents inside, like onion sacks. A lot of times they just show up with a yellow envelope,” Larralde said.
As the number of detainees filling the nation's immigration detention centers grows, so does the amount of people who manage to be released, with an increasing number of people filing for petitions of habeas corpus. That’s a legal filing that challenges the government’s reasoning to hold someone in detention.
ICE data shows more than 2,500 detainees have come through Kern County just this year. Their average detention was between 25 and 69 days.
Of the two men waiting in the terminal that day, only one man agreed to talk with KVPR.
He requested his name not be used. He’s scheduled to appear in immigration court the following month and doesn’t want to jeopardize his case.
The man said he’d been living and working in Salt Lake City for nine years with a legal work permit. But over the summer, ICE officers detained him on his way to a grocery store. He spent the past two months in the California City Detention Facility.
“In reality, they’re rounding up a lot of people, including those who have [work] permits or who have started the paperwork process - and they’re just taking everyone indiscriminately,” the man said in Spanish.
He said he was granted release after filing for habeas corpus. He said he and his fellow detainees also prayed a lot in detention, and that he believed his release was a miracle.
“I would get on my hands and knees, praying to God with a pool of tears,” he said.
Earlier that morning, Jeannie Parent had been alerted by a network of volunteers that someone was being released from detention and needed assistance.
“So we're trying to work together to get him home. That's the main priority,” Parent said.
She’s the founder of Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants (KWESI). The organization provides aid to people held in detention centers, and responds when someone is released.
Parent is also in frequent communication with Faith in the Valley, a faith-based organization with presence all over the Central Valley that has picked up its work with immigrants under the heightened enforcement environment.
Parent said it’s unclear how anyone released from detention could ever find their way home without organizations like KWESI, Faith in the Valley and volunteers like Larralde.
“They've been shuffled around the whole country. They've been trafficked, basically, and then left in California, 3,000 miles from home, with no resources, and often their IDs and their work permits and their passports have been taken by ICE as well,” she said.
KVPR reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about its personal property policy. The agency said all personal property is “removed and secured while a detainee is in custody” and given back “upon arrival to their final destination.” However, DHS did not respond to a request to clarify whether “final destination” refers to their home state or the facility where they were processed for release.
While Parent waited for confirmation about flight bookings on the recent day for the two men, she was also busy setting up a brand new cell phone, just torn from its plastic casing.
Getting access to a phone is one of the first steps for newly-released people. KWESI also provides travel assistance and clothing.
The organization also goes beyond post-release assistance to support people still inside detention. That includes a pen pal program and in-person visits at the detention centers with volunteers. Parent says the human connection gives hope to people inside. Her organization additionally fills commissary accounts to help detainees buy basic necessities. All of this is funded by private donations.
Donations also cover another essential: food.
“Are you guys hungry?” Parent asked the two men, first in English and then in Spanish before they ventured off to find something to eat.
As they walked toward the exit of the terminal, a man in a business suit stopped Parent. He exchanged a few words with her, then pulled out his wallet and handed her a couple bills.
“Thank you! Wow,” Parent replied with a wide smile.
“He's like, ‘I heard you. I overheard you talking. Here, get them something to eat,’” she said with excitement once they reached a nearby food truck. “[He] gave me $40!”
The men who accompanied Parent were able to order cold drinks, an asada burrito and tacos made of melted cheese and beef. This was their first decent meal in months, they said.
The total? $39. One dollar to spare.
As they enjoyed their meal sitting outside the taco truck, the men savored a moment of connection on a breezy Bakersfield afternoon.
They spoke of home with a hint of fear about what lies on the journey back.
“They're scared,” Parent said of one of the men who earlier didn’t want to speak. “He only wants a nonstop flight. He's terrified to be in a layover and get re-arrested.”
One man didn’t know if he’d have a home or a job to return to.
After lunch, Parent received a text from a contact at Faith in the Valley confirming the men’s flights were booked for that evening.
Another Kern County volunteer agreed to drive both men to LAX. That volunteer will escort them through the TSA line. After that, the men are back on their own.
Before they head out, the men snapped a photo with Parent. They exchanged some final “thank yous” and shyly traded smiles and a timid goodbye.
Parent had a few final ones for two people whom she may never see again.
“Buena Suerte,” she called after them. “Good luck.”
